Australian coach Mickey Arthur puts pressure back on India's spinners to deliver in Chennai Australian coach Mickey Arthur. AUSTRALIAN coach Mickey Arthur has fired the first psychological salvo at India by claiming their spinners are feeling the weight of a nation after failing to deliver on home turf against England. And Arthur believes it would take a "very brave selection panel" to axe Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar if his worrying decline in form continues in the first Test against Australia starting Friday. The Indian camp believes it has the slow-bowling weapons to outfox the tourists, with Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh primed to bamboozle an Australian top-order missing retired greats Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey. Australia-India series have a recent history of on and off-field tensions and Arthur delivered the first subtle jab yesterday when he took aim at the home side's squadron of spinners. Ashwin, in particular, is under pressure to fire. The right-arm off-spinner was mauled by England in their recent duel in December, taking 14 wickets at 52.64 as the Poms nullified the spin threat to record a 2-1 victory on Indian soil. "There's no point in us defending," Arthur said yesterday. We have to be showing intent because if we can show intent and put them under pressure ... I think we could open some chinks in their armour, because the Indian spinners have been under pressure. They didn't win the series against England so the Indian spinners are coming into this series with the weight of expectation on their shoulders. If we get on top of them at any phase of the game, they will be feeling the heat as much as our batsmen are. That's got to be a very firm plan in our mind. Another priority will be maintaining pressure on the struggling Tendulkar, although Arthur concedes Indian selectors would need nerves of steel to officially end the 39-year-old's remarkable international career. The 194-Test veteran has averaged 18.67 and 21.00 respectively in recent Test series against England and New Zealand, but the Australians are wary of a Tendulkar uprising in what could be his swansong campaign. Asked if Australia could deliver the coup de grace, Arthur said: "I'm not sure, it would be a very brave selection panel to drop Sachin Tendulkar. He is still a class act, he has a massive aura about him so I'm not 100 per cent sure. Our goal is going to be to dismiss him as cheaply as we can every time we come across him because we know the damage he can do. That will be our focus, I'm not sure what will happen after that. On the Australian front, the national panel is set to keep faith in Ed Cowan even if his opening partner David Warner (thumb) is cleared to face the Indians. There has been a push for Shane Watson to return to the top of the order to partner Warner, but Cowan appears safe after scores of 40, 53 and 58 in Australia's two warm-up games.