Past 6 weeks have been considered as one of the brightest days in cricket history. Two giants of the world cricket put on a show that will remain as the best of the bests in coming years. The ploys were eye catching, bowling was breath taking, batting was mesmerizing and entire show was truly inspiring.
India had the confidence (having defeated Australia at Perth earlier this year) of the challenging the depleted Australia going into the series. The first test at Bangalore was a generic test (any test match that involves Australia). Australians dominated the test with their immense batting wealth but they lacked resources in bowling department which helped India to stand back on feet and manage a draw. The partnership between Bhajji and Zak in the first innings spoiled the notion of Australian victory. Second Test at Mohali will be remembered for very long time. It was one of the notable victories by India. They beat Australians in all departments. India displayed admiringly eloquent batting skills. It was more of a collective crafted effort than an individual feat. The pace bowlers duo bowled their heart out. In second innings, the delivery off Ishanth that breached Ponting’s defense will stand on par with the one bowled by Shane Warne that flummoxed Mike Gatting in 1993. Other than that there was a scintillating century from Ganguly, Dazzling show of vintage Tendlya and brave knock from Dhoni.
Third test at Delhi, which was named as the fortress of the Team India, lived up to the expectation in batting aspect but the bowling looked thin without the services of Bhajji and with injured Kumble, bowling definitely looked out of sorts. But the batting department was right on the money. Gambhir, best batsman of the series, along with wristy Laxman put on a show of class act. Gambhir’s dominance with the bat was insurmountable and his walking down the pitch to the pace attack was a bit annoying and disturbing to the pacers of Australia, which forced them to rely more on words than bowling artillery. Laxman was as crafty as he had always been. Looking him playing the strokes was as serene as the flow of river through the curvy mountains. Worn-out bowling display was matched by mended batting exhibit by Australians, they were equal to the task and they looked confident and seemed to have found a way to nullify the reverse swing off Indian bowlers. On the whole the last test by one of the cricket’s best, Anil Kumble ended in a tame draw.
Fourth and final test at Nagpur was a special one in so many ways, Ganguly’s last test match and Laxman’s 100th one and Australia had one last chance to take vengeance on a team that had been gifting them a mask of humiliation for a decade. India was touch weak with the absence of Gambhir and it was their first test in Post-Kumble era. Debutant Vijay, who was a nomad before this test, was named in the final squad and had been asked to face Lee and Co. With the luxury of Sehwag’s prepared impromptu onslaught, he slowly and cozily groomed into the shoes of strike rotator. One of the shining stars of the test was Tendlya’s much anticipated century. Without his century, it would have been an empty handed return from a free food give away. Indian batsmen continued their good form, pounding the runs but only difference was intermittent execution. Even with broken concentration, they could able to set a comparative first innings score. Australian seemed solid till the first half of the first innings but slowly surrendered to the 8-1 fielding strategy by Indians, a ploy which was criticized and at the same time left the analysts bemused. In the second innings when India were in doldrums, when Australia finally able to push the Indians backs to the wall, Ponting’s move to bring the part timers on to compensate slow over rate let the Team India off the hook and cost him the series and eventually threw him into fiasco as analysts prey on him questioning him to justify the ploy. One session of poised pondering could have brought the smiles back on the faces of Australians. But one wrong step buried them in the hole of utter ignominy.
There were many positives to take for India in this series. They played with absolute and attractive ridicule coupled with shrewd serenity. All the batsmen came out strong when team needed them to perform. Bowlers were on top and most of the time they made living tough for Australian batsmen. This series also brought curtail to two of the great cricketers of modern era. Filling those shoes would be a mountain to climb, but looking at the kinds of Vijay and Amit, it certainly seems possible to produce more match winners.
With the series over and with Australia remaining on the losing side, the obvious question has been raised, one more time, does this Australian Team still have the caliber to dominate world cricket as they had been, over the years?
I would say, they may not be as dominant as they were before, but they certainly are the toughest cricket team to beat any given day and beating them would take one special effort from Team itself.
India had the confidence (having defeated Australia at Perth earlier this year) of the challenging the depleted Australia going into the series. The first test at Bangalore was a generic test (any test match that involves Australia). Australians dominated the test with their immense batting wealth but they lacked resources in bowling department which helped India to stand back on feet and manage a draw. The partnership between Bhajji and Zak in the first innings spoiled the notion of Australian victory. Second Test at Mohali will be remembered for very long time. It was one of the notable victories by India. They beat Australians in all departments. India displayed admiringly eloquent batting skills. It was more of a collective crafted effort than an individual feat. The pace bowlers duo bowled their heart out. In second innings, the delivery off Ishanth that breached Ponting’s defense will stand on par with the one bowled by Shane Warne that flummoxed Mike Gatting in 1993. Other than that there was a scintillating century from Ganguly, Dazzling show of vintage Tendlya and brave knock from Dhoni.
Third test at Delhi, which was named as the fortress of the Team India, lived up to the expectation in batting aspect but the bowling looked thin without the services of Bhajji and with injured Kumble, bowling definitely looked out of sorts. But the batting department was right on the money. Gambhir, best batsman of the series, along with wristy Laxman put on a show of class act. Gambhir’s dominance with the bat was insurmountable and his walking down the pitch to the pace attack was a bit annoying and disturbing to the pacers of Australia, which forced them to rely more on words than bowling artillery. Laxman was as crafty as he had always been. Looking him playing the strokes was as serene as the flow of river through the curvy mountains. Worn-out bowling display was matched by mended batting exhibit by Australians, they were equal to the task and they looked confident and seemed to have found a way to nullify the reverse swing off Indian bowlers. On the whole the last test by one of the cricket’s best, Anil Kumble ended in a tame draw.
Fourth and final test at Nagpur was a special one in so many ways, Ganguly’s last test match and Laxman’s 100th one and Australia had one last chance to take vengeance on a team that had been gifting them a mask of humiliation for a decade. India was touch weak with the absence of Gambhir and it was their first test in Post-Kumble era. Debutant Vijay, who was a nomad before this test, was named in the final squad and had been asked to face Lee and Co. With the luxury of Sehwag’s prepared impromptu onslaught, he slowly and cozily groomed into the shoes of strike rotator. One of the shining stars of the test was Tendlya’s much anticipated century. Without his century, it would have been an empty handed return from a free food give away. Indian batsmen continued their good form, pounding the runs but only difference was intermittent execution. Even with broken concentration, they could able to set a comparative first innings score. Australian seemed solid till the first half of the first innings but slowly surrendered to the 8-1 fielding strategy by Indians, a ploy which was criticized and at the same time left the analysts bemused. In the second innings when India were in doldrums, when Australia finally able to push the Indians backs to the wall, Ponting’s move to bring the part timers on to compensate slow over rate let the Team India off the hook and cost him the series and eventually threw him into fiasco as analysts prey on him questioning him to justify the ploy. One session of poised pondering could have brought the smiles back on the faces of Australians. But one wrong step buried them in the hole of utter ignominy.
There were many positives to take for India in this series. They played with absolute and attractive ridicule coupled with shrewd serenity. All the batsmen came out strong when team needed them to perform. Bowlers were on top and most of the time they made living tough for Australian batsmen. This series also brought curtail to two of the great cricketers of modern era. Filling those shoes would be a mountain to climb, but looking at the kinds of Vijay and Amit, it certainly seems possible to produce more match winners.
With the series over and with Australia remaining on the losing side, the obvious question has been raised, one more time, does this Australian Team still have the caliber to dominate world cricket as they had been, over the years?
I would say, they may not be as dominant as they were before, but they certainly are the toughest cricket team to beat any given day and beating them would take one special effort from Team itself.
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