Record crowd expected for Ahmedabad Test as India face uphill battle against Australia

The fourth Test in Ahmedabad was expected to be a dead rubber after India looked set to steamroll Australia following largely comfortable wins the opening two matches.

But the home team's ploy of preparing rank turners backfired spectacularly in Indore as the Aussies outplayed India in all three departments to pull off one of the great Test wins in the third of the four-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy series.

Having now qualified for the World Test Championship final, Australia will harbour hopes of levelling the series in the final Test that begins at the Narendra Modi Stadium from Thursday.

Before the third Test started, India captain Rohit Sharma explored the possibility of requesting a hard surface for the final Test to replicate, as much as possible, the conditions expected in the WTC final at The Oval in June, if they won the Indore game.

However, a nine-wicket defeat inside three days has put India in a tight spot as they are still in danger of missing out on qualification for the showpiece event, while struggling with a top order seemingly all at sea against quality spin.

Either way, it is Australia who hold the upper hand going into the match. The spinners – led by the indefatigable Nathan Lyon – have stuck to the basics and kept India's batsmen on their toes. Australia's top order batsmen have shown far greater application than their Indian counterparts and will be in a much better frame of mind.

There will be additional focus on the game, albeit for non-cricket reasons. The series finale had gained greater significance when it was announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the first day's play along with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at the 132,000 capacity stadium.

Demand for tickets