The Australian dominance of the genmtleman’s game isn’t something which just cropped up. It isn’t something we can put down to their country’s luck to find a bunch of great players all at the same time. The Aussies have been the best in the business for almost the last decade now. What Alan Border began was carried forth strongly by Mark Taylor and now Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting are underlining the point in both forms of the game.
During course of this review I will further try and look at what makes the Aussies the best and why we Indians are still far behind them.
So what makes the Aussies the side they are? Well firstly, the systems in place which govern the development of the younger players in the country. Right from the under 13’s and 15’s to the A and in some cases B teams the administration pays close attention to each and every individual. thats something which we in India really don’t do much of. We just hope that the natural talent around will develop itself and come of age on its own. That just doesnt happen at all. Considering the BCCI is the richest cricket board in the world that indeed is sad. Money needs to trickle down to the lowest level and I don’t mean just handing the players more match fees. Where the money is really needed is the grassroots level where dreams are bron and need to be nurtured. Compare the socio- economic scenario in the two countries. The AUssies have a higher per capita income. What that translates into is the fact that more of them are in a position to pay for the basic equipment to play the sports. What about in India? Well so many families do not have the money to put three square meals on the table which makes talking of playing sport and buying sport equipment hillarious. Here is where the BCCI needs to step in and set up support systems for the children to be able to pursue their dreams of being the next Sachins, Sehwags, Gangulys or who-so-ever they may choose to emulate.
The next reason I believe is the kind of wickets the Aussies play on. Australian wickets are sporting in nature. They give everyone a chance to prove themselves be it spinners’ pacemen or batsmen. In India we have fabulous tracks where the ball is almost always at knee height with pace thats breaks the heart of any fast bowler. The result; high scoring batsman in the domestic game becomes no-hopers in the international level. There was a lot of talk about redoing the pitches in India and Kapil Dev taking a pro-active role in the same. What really happened is what I’d like to know.
The final reason is the ’’Never - Say - Die’’ attitude of the Aussies. Put them in any situation and they will fight. Ands they fight with the conviction of someone who knows he is destined to win. They never panic and keep playing their game come what may. The Indians, on the other hand, quite often seem to pack up all at once when the going gets tough. While I have to say this has improved of late but the real killer instinct which you see with the Aussies is yet to be seen in the Indians. The great teams of this century- Bradman’s AUssies, Westindies under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards and the Aussies of today share one great trait. They never let the team down get up. Yeah sure we can talk about the odd occasion when a team down and out has suddenly fought back against the Aussies (Like the Indians at the Eden Gardens when Laxman scored that brilliant double) but overall when they get a team by the throat they never let go till every breath of air is squeezed out.
All I can say is that this Aussie team is simply superb and is sure gonna take some beating and catching up. When is this dominance gonna end? Hell I don’t think even the oracle from the Matrix will know.