Cricket: From the Far End

So there it is. Of all teams Australia has played over the last few years only India can boast a 4-4 record that includes wins against Australia both at home and also in Australia. It’s quite strange that a clash between a sports culture that puts performance above everything else and another where questions are raised in the parliament when a senior player is dropped has resulted in a fairly even result. To me, the Aussies’ best performances are a result of tough competition, planning and execution whereas India’s are mostly based on individual flair. Indians must be hoping all their batsman get that kick that’s necessary to turn in the kinds of performances they have shown against Australia from time to time.

It’s good that India is not going there with some “no 2″ tag as recently Australia has totally exposed such pretenders- England last year and South Africa earlier often- and shown the gap between them and the others. A team that has stretched the most is a better tag to go with I guess.

The only thing I fear is many times in the past aging stars have been exposed miserably by the new young opponents on their last tours. India’s spinners Bedi, Chandrasekar etc in Pakistan in 1978, England’s Gatting and Gooch in Australia in 1994 are just two examples of these and I am sure there are more. However in that case India still has Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Wasim Jaffer and Dhoni to counter it if that happens.

The first test starts today at Melbourne, followed by the second at Sydney on Jan 2nd. There are two more after that at Perth and Adelaide.

Steve Waugh could never do it and Gilchrist finally achieved their dream of beating India in India. But it would have been definitely interesting if the last day’s play at Chennai would have happened with India looking for 229 to win.

These two teams met just after about 8-9 months, but having won in Pakistan and after a 3-4 months’ break India had lost its form completely and were struggling when the Aussies arrived.

Bangalore: It’s some planning and execution of it when you get the opposition’s best batsman bowled for a duck on his home ground. That’s why McGrath was so crucial to Australia. While responding to Australia’s 474 McGrath had Chopra and Dravid in no time to leave India at 4/2. Tendulkar was still injured. And this time Australia did not ask India to follow-on. India ended up losing while chasing 457 in fourth innings.

Chennai: The only batsman who was still scoring during that time was Sehwag. He almost brought India back in the series with a bang after Kumble destroyed the Aussies taking 48/7. Sehwag scored 155 and India had a lead of over 150. Australia were in trouble at 145/4 but Damien Martyn and the tail resisted to leave India 229 on the last day. Sehwag hit 3 fours in one McGrath over at the end of the fourth day to signal the intent. The fifth day’s play looked promising and the series was coming alive again. Everybody eagerly waited for the fifth day, only to find that rain completely washed it out. India lost a chance to get back but they had probably lost it when they could not wrap the Aussie tail quickly in the third innings.

Nagpur: Fast and green pitch, Ganguly sat out on the match day due to something we will know only much much later and Dravid led the side. Tendulkar’s return didn’t help much and India lost heavily to lose the series. All these three tests were led by Gilchrist because Ponting was unfit too.

Mumbai: India won this on a bad pitch to keep the result 2-1 and again making us wonder what would have happened had fifth day’s play happened at Chennai. That gave Ponting a record of 1 match and 1 loss in India and his earlier bad form in India continued as he scored just 11 and 12 here.

But overall Australia achieved their dream and had now completed wins against all major teams in their backyard. But they also wanted these contests with India more frequently and tried for another series in India in 2008 instead of 2010. India, would tour Australia in 2007-08.

No McGrath, no Warne. But it was McGrath whose absence mattered for India I think as the Indian openers made partnerships of 61, 66, 48, 141 and 123 in 5 of the 8 innings in the series. Australia could bowl India out twice only at Melbourne.

If the usually modest India starts the tour with “We know and they know that we can beat them” that must mean something. Steve Waugh had earlier announced that he would retire after India series and the underlying assumption must have been that here was one series to win easily and go out on a high. Instead he was struggling on the last day of his test career to save Australia from a home series defeat. He did manage that though as India could not close that match.

Brisbane: First day of first test, Australia 262/2, losing some time due to rain. “End of the Indian summer” the press thought. But the other 8 could add only another 70 the next day and that unlikeliest of players to come good for India - Ganguly- scored a hundred and got out only after giving India a lead in the first innings. Even that happened in Australia after a long long time - Australia conceding a lead in the first test. And if you thought Kumble was too conservative in declaring at Bangalore recently, giving only about 50 overs to Pak, consider this: The over aggressive Waugh declares leaving India about 16 overs to get 199!

After having scored 7 successive ducks in 1999-00 series and earning the nickname “Bombay Duck” when Agarkar scored a run in this match he celebrated like they do after reaching a milestone.

Adelaide: Australia scored 556, India 85/4. Then Laxman and Dravid came together and the commentators went from talking about getting out of trouble to avoiding follow-on to closing in on Australia’s total to the possibility of India taking a lead! India scored 523 and then Agarkar got his revenge for all those ducks, taking 6 for 41 to leave India 233 to make. Dravid made sure it wasn’t one of those “target - 100″ days for Indian batting and India were 1 up in the series, again after a long time in Australia the visitors had taken the lead.

Melbourne: Sehwag probably interpreted the term “boxing day” differently as he hit 25 fours and 5 sixes on the first day and at one time India were about to run away with the series at 278/1. Then it all went wrong. Sehwag hit a six on 189 and then tried to repeat that on 195 to get out. Tendulkar continued his mix of bad umpiring decisions and bad form and India just managed to score 366. Ponting then hit second successive double century and Indian batting didn’t quite click in the second innings. This is where India lost a great chance to bag the series right here. But this was just another of those occasions around that time when India would immediately lose a test after winning the earlier one.

Sydney: End of the first day India 284/3. Fairly good against other teams, but still not safe if you are against Australia and are looking for winning the test. But Tendulkar came good this time playing mostly on the on side and Laxman was in great form anyway. India scored their highest test score 705/7 and had Australia in trouble at 350/6. But Katich and Gillespie exploited India’s inability to wrap the tail and the bowlers probably were tired so much that Ganguly had to bat again. That still left India a day to get the Aussies out and at 196/4 there was hope. But Steve Waugh played a typical Waugh innings one last time and saved the game.

India’s big 5 all clicked at some point on this tour: Ganguly in Brisbane, Dravid in Adelaide, Sehwag in Melbourne and Tendulkar in Sydney. Laxman? pretty much in all matches. The partnerships he made could be one reason why the Aussies rate him so highly - 146 with Ganguly in Brisbane, 69* with Dravid in second innings there, 303 with Dravid in first innings and 51 with Parthiv Patel to take India from 170 to 221 while chasing 233 in second innings Adelaide, 353 with Tendulkar at Sydney.

A triangular series followed this test series and Laxman scored three centuries in that too. But as the series progressed India were probably exhausted and lost heavily in the finals. Still after all this they were pumped up enough to beat Pakistan in Pakistan for the first time.