The upcoming series between India and Australia has been billed as the toughest team playing cricket, on their toughest tour yet. It has never been easy for any cricket playing nation to tour India. The heat, humidity and food (not necessarily in that order) have in the past, brought world beating teams to their knees.
The previous meetings between these two teams have probably seen some of the best cricket ever. Hazare’s back to back hundreds in both innings of the same test, Dean Jones double century in the tied test at Chennai, and more recently Sachin Tendulkars drubbing of Shane Warne, the last time Australia visited India, are all part of cricketing folklore.
All that is the past. Australia probably has never had a tougher team visit India. Fifteen successive test wins and they are still hungry for more. Captain Steve Waugh’s ability to push his team and raise the level of the teams game two notches higher whenever they are down has given the team a aura of invincibility. What keeps the Australians going is their hunger for success. The team boasts of talent in the form of Warne, Mark Waugh, Gillespie, Gilchrist and McGrath. Others not as talented, more than make up for talent with their ’never say die street fighter attitude. But what keeps the Australian battleship going at the rate they are, is undoubtedly the team effort. A great team is one where the shortcoming of one team member is more than made up for by the talents of the others. When the Australian team is out on the field it is like watching a well oiled machine.
The Australians play against India. Arguably the most talented team in the world on paper. Unfortunately when it matters out there in the middle, the team has often failed. A few successes in the last few years have been overshadowed by constant allegations of match fixing. One sees a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of an aggressive Captain in Saurav Ganguly and raw young talent in the form of Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Das and Dahiya. In the recent past these youngsters have shown a ’never heard of before in India’ kind of aggressiveness which, if it rubs of on the other team members can take India past the Australians. We all know that Sachin, if he clicks, can single handedly win a match for India against any country. Australia though, is not ’any team’ and India will have to go all out as a team if they have to win the series.
The next two months will either see the end of Australia domination of Cricket or see India go down meekly once again. Only this time it will be more humiliating. This time it will happen on pitches, which will turn the first day after lunch. Pitches, which supposedly are Australia’s weakness. The next two months will see raw talent battling sheer doggedness. The next two months will see hordes of fans thronging the cricketing greens around the country with posters of their favourite stars in their hands and a prayer on their lips. The next two months will see every nook and corner of India being transformed into a cricketing pitch. The next two months……I can hardly wait.