by Siddharth Raman
On the eve of the 2008 Border Gavaskar series in India, Sachin Tendulkar said that nowadays an India Australia series tends to generate more interest than an India Pakistan series. This statement created quite a few ripples in the media,but if one actually sits down and analyzes what he said, it does seem to make a lot of sense. Since the turn of the millennium India has played four and five test series respectively against Pakistan and Australia and if we sit back and look at these series’ one will see that the ones in which India has played against Australia takes the quality of cricket played and the drama on and off the field to another level.
In 2001 Steve Waugh and his team arrived in India on a 15 match winning streak and they made it 16 in the opening game at Mumbai, with Hayden and Gilchrist ripping the Indian attack to pieces.Many thought that this would set the tone for the series and the Aussies would achieve that elusive test series win India. After the first 3 days of the second test at Kolkata, that dream seemed to be at their doorstep.But what followed after that would be something that happened only for the second time in the history of test cricket. When Laxman and Dravid batted for the whole day on March 14th 2001, it was the beginning of a trend that India were setting in the series’ that they played against Australia, that of bouncing back when least expected and being the quintessential ‘party poopers’ for the Australians. After that dramatic day of test cricket India counter attacked and won that test to level the series and go to Chennai with a new found confidence. And that confidence was channelised into a series victory, which wasn’t even a passing thought after the debacle in the first test. Out of the fifteen days of cricket played in that series the Aussies won the first eight with ease, but the manner in which India fought back to win the remaining seven days justified them to be the series winners.
One saw a similar trend when India went Down Under after a couple of years. Nobody gave them a chance to win the series but in the very first game at the Gabba, Ganguly led by example and showed the Australians that India would be no pushovers. His century and the rain Gods contributed to that match ending in a draw. In the second match the home side couldn’t have thought that they could have lost the match after scoring 500 plus runs in the first innings. But it was that duo again - Laxman and Dravid who made the impossible look so very trivial! Their effort along with Ajit Agarkar’s fine bowling performance in the second innings set up a thrilling Indian victory at Adelaide. In the boxing day test match at Melbourne India lost the plot in spite of Sehwag’s brilliance in the first innings. It was a really good fight back from the home side to take the series to the deciding test match at Sydney. His final test at his home ground would have been a very emotional moment for Steve Waugh but lady luck wasn’t on his side as India amassed more 700 runs in the first innings riding on a double century from Tendulkar and a century from Laxman.The Indians batted themselves into a position where it would be very difficult to lose the match. They even came very close to winning that match on the final day, but Steve Waugh batted in characteristic gutsy way one last time to save the home team from a series defeat. That series was a beautiful follow up to the one which was played.India still could carry the tag of being the only team to trouble the Aussies.
The Aussies came calling again in 2004 and this team under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting seemed determined to conquer ‘the final frontier’. The series started off in similar fashion to the one in 2001 with Australia winning the opening test at Bangalore thanks largely due to a brilliant century on debut by Micahel Clarke. For the superstitious Indian supporters this was a good sign as they drew similarities between this match and the opener of the 2001 series and they hoped that the remaining matches would follow the trend of the 2001 series. But the Aussies came very well prepared this time around, completely curbing their attacking instincts and winning the third test on a green top at Nagpur after rain wiped out an entire days play at Chennai to ensure a draw.
The Australians well and truly deserved the series victory, they played better cricket throughout this series and the amount of preparation that went into this series warranted a victory for them. The series wasn’t over though as a dead rubber was to played at Mumbai. India salvaged some pride there and won the match on a mine field of a pitch which was the cause of the match lasting effectively two days. Australia finally achieved their much awaited test series victory in India and took the Border Gavaskar trophy home for the first time in nearly 5 years.
India’s tour to Australia in 2007-08 was by far the most emotionally charged of all the series played between the two countries. After being comprehensively beaten in the first test at Melbourne, the Indians would not have expected what was coming their way at Sydney. The scorecard would have reflected an Indian loss but what it failed to show was the on field and off field drama, the latter putting cricket on the back burner for a while.With this kind of a background no one would have expected India to do anything special at Perth - which until then was the most impregnable Aussie venue. But lo and behold! India managed to pull it off again and history repeated itself as they put an end to the Aussie winning streak of 16 test matches. When least expected they played fantastic cricket as a team and won a memorable match to bury the ghosts of Sydney.After that victory the first two losses seemed to have occurred somewhere in the distant past and after a draw in the final test at Adelaide, the Indians could claim a moral victory in spite of the series being lost.
As the end of the second test of the present series approaches, the Indian team seems to be on the verge of pulling off a coup under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. If India do go on to win the match it will be the second time in the 5 series played so far that India has taken an early lead. The last time that happened India came very close to winning that series. It would be the dream of every Indian fan that an Indian victory at Mohali helps India in regaining the tag of being gate crashers of Australian dominance. Only time will tell whether this materializes or not. Till then every cricket fan will be treated to some high quality test cricket - a rarity these days.
