by Kartik Kannan
The article spots a similar pattern that could augur well for the upcoming India Australia series.
Rewind: India vs Australia- 2000, ICC Champions Trophy- 18 year old Yuvraj Singh’s magical knock paved way for India to start believing after a long time that they could compete with the Australians. Indians went on to dominate the 2001 series against Australia at home against the Aussies after a series of drubbings at the hand of the Aussies from 1999.
There was a lot of euphoria last week over the anniversary celebrations of India’s T-20 World cup victory. The T20 Victory was indeed a flash in the pan, as the Indians lost the series after the T20 world cup to Australia 2-5. But though that was a mixed reaction from the Indian fans, what was to be emphasized was that the T20 victory was instrumental in sending a strong message across. India entered the T20 world cup with a line up that was untested as the Titanic on the Atlantic.
With a new captain at the helm, and the familiar brigade of senior players missing, India suddenly seemed to be no more the impregnable batting line up of the yore. With a bunch of young players suddenly thrown in to the waters, the Indian T20 team slowly figured out as a young team, they had no reputation and therefore nothing to lose. The biggest gain was their bowling, and fielding which made India look more dangerous than it actually was on paper. Once the bowling and fielding got India past the first hurdle against Pakistan, their young guns rapped to a different beat by performing in key matches against England and South Africa. Yuvraj Singh was gaining in stature after his 6 hitting marathon against Stuart Broad, but the real masterstroke of the T20 tournament was his performance against Australia.
Australia was at its peak with a team that had performed on every given occasions and were waiting for the next territory to conquer, when the Australians discovered that despite having India under a tight Kangaroo grip over India struggling at 45/1 after 9 overs, India managed to claw out to surprise the Aussies. Yuvraj’s 70 of 30 balls was a blitz that had the Australians in a tizzy, and that bold innings made the difference between Indian victory and loss that day. The Indian team was in very high spirits after Yuvraj’s blitzkrieg and that aggression reflected in the way the Indian team bowled against Australia that night. This aggressive 3 hours of cricket did a lot of wonders in putting Indian cricket back on track. The youngsters on whom responsibility was thrust, performed very well, and it sure did pave the way for Dhoni’s men to show the same aggression down in the CB Series and in the following one day series.
That one night against Australia in the T20 was the night, when boys turned to men, and a summer later, we have the aussies baying for our blood, back to yet another series clash between the two modern day titans. The Aussies come to India on the heels of a confidence boosting measure by beating the Windies and the Bangladesh Tigers. More so the Aussies haven’t been challenged yet, while India have grown from a start up unit to a more established unit. So, the significance of the T20 world cup victory should rub off on the series to be played in a month’s time. Time should tell whether History or law of averages wins!
