Adelaide: It's to be seen if the illustrious troika ever takes the field again together, but what's a given is that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman won't be making another appearance in the same XI in Australia. Not in the India cap, at least.
So, prepare for moments of emotions over the next few days.
The series has been lost, but the setting for a possible final flourish couldn't have been better: The ethereal Adelaide Oval, which has retained some of the old world romance and hasn't been turned into a concrete landmark.
And, of course, it was here that India registered their only Test win (under Sourav Ganguly) during the drawn series in 2003-04. Sachin, Dravid and Laxman were in that XI.
There had been speculation over Laxman's place in the team, but The Telegraph reported last Saturday itself that he was set to play.
It's interesting that the captains, Michael Clarke and Virender Sehwag (standing-in for the banned Mahendra Singh Dhoni), have different ambitions ' one stated, the other not quite.
Nothing will please Clarke more than a 4-0 rout, and he's been pretty vocal about it. As for Sehwag, he aspires to be India's full-time captain (though he was suitably diplomatic before the media) and a win would be a definite plus.
There's no immediate threat to Dhoni's position as captain, but there are no guarantees in life. Certainly not in Indian cricket.
Sehwag has been a flop in the series and must lead from the front if India are to end on a dramatically different note from which they started, at the MCG.
Significantly, Sehwag backed Laxman to the hilt. If that was praiseworthy, one failed to understand why he (again) spoke about possibly batting in the middle-order at some point in the future.
On the eve of the Perth Test, Dhoni blundered by hinting that he may quit the sport's premier form after 2013. Sehwag did likewise on Monday afternoon, albeit on a different subject.
Both need to choose their words with care.
The final Test is also a big occasion for Wriddhiman Saha, the 27-year-old 'keeper from Bengal. Twenty-three months after his debut in bizarre circumstances, Saha has the opportunity to show the world that he's actually very good with the big gloves.
"I'm relaxed... Beshi kichchu bhabchi na... In fact, I don't go overboard on anything," Saha told this Reporter after the Test-eve nets.
Till Perth, Saha went largely unnoticed and could easily move around with wife Romi. In the last few days, that has changed and he's being chased for photographs and autographs.
Well, every 'keeper has his day.
Smashed in the first three Tests, with the performances deteriorating instead of improving, India have to give a good account of themselves at the Adelaide Oval.
There's just no option.
Be it Sehwag or Gautam Gambhir or Virat Kohli, everybody has been talking of pride. That's perfectly in order, but they should now put their money where their mouth is.
It's a lost cause, yes, but not everything has been lost.
TEAMS
India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Virat Kohli, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma/Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav.
Australia: Ed Cowan, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon, Ben Hilfenhaus.
Footnote: Two of the national selectors, Surendra Bhave and Raja Venkat, reached Adelaide on Monday morning. They're expected to be in Australia till the middle of February.
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