Aussies are not invincible anymore

Published : Nov 01, 2008 00:00 IST

Skipper Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh celebrate the fall of Simon Katich’s wicket.-
Skipper Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh celebrate the fall of Simon Katich’s wicket.-
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Skipper Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh celebrate the fall of Simon Katich’s wicket.-

In so many ways, Australia was beaten by its own shadow. Mohali did not only herald the end of Australia’s great run, it paved the way for the rise of India, writes Peter Roebuck.

India is going to the moon. A rocket has been successfully launched and a proud country is closely monitoring its progress. It is a statement of the ambition, affluence and confidence that has also been expressed on the cricket field.

A team containing an unusual blend of experience and youth, reflection and aggression, urban and rural, has indicated that it wants to go to the stars. It’s a worthy enough aim and India ought to settle for nothing less.

The game that belongs to the people is now played at the highest level by the people and that has unleashed the force that overwhelmed a faltering Australian side in Mohali. In so many ways, Australia was beaten by its own shadow. Mohali did not only herald the end of Australia’s great run, it paved the way for the rise of India. Of course India did win the World Cup in 1983 and a Twenty20 tournament in 2008, but it has not won consistently because it has not expected to do so. To the contrary, sporadic victories have been cherished and celebrated as if they were almost beyond imagination, as indeed was the case for a nation nursing an inferiority complex.

India remembered its triumphs and failed to move on from them. But a few trophies ought not satisfy a powerful nation, especially in a game played by such a ragtag and bobtail collection of countries. In the past, India has been too easily delighted, and appeased. In Mohali there was a hunger, a ruthlessness about the performance that was positively, well, Australian.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his players did not ride a wave of inspiration. Doubtless, it helped that Sachin Tendulkar broke the record for runs scored in Test cricket and afterwards was able to relax, and that Sourav Ganguly’s announcement cleared the air and all the senior batsmen had scored the runs needed to rid themselves of their albatross. Moreover all four bowlers were fit. But these factors alone cannot account for the wreckage left by tornado India.

Victories of this proportion do not happen by chance. They require a certain state of mind. India dared to believe in itself. No defiance could be detected in the mood of the home team, only a strong desire to prevail. It was a cold execution carried out by a fierce team. Heavens, the hosts even out-talked the visitors. That, too, was a turn up for the books but the world is not yet ready for the sound of antipodean bleating.

Is too much being read into a single match? Time alone will tell. A stung Australian side will be harder to beat hereafter. But their confidence has taken a pasting, and antipodeans breakfast on belief. Beyond argument the aura has been diminished. Man for man the Australians are not a patch on their former selves or their opponents. India has better plans and teamwork and an outstanding bowling coach, which has removed one of Australia’s obvious advantages.

Only two of the visitors could command a place in a composite side. None of them opens the batting or bowling. India is stronger at the top and from No. 7 to 11. And that ignores the great players in the middle order, outstanding men and players, past their peaks but mentally strong and happy to join the common quest.

For the first time in decades, the Australians look vulnerable. Everyone is going to fancy a piece of them. Trouncing the Aussies did not look that hard, not compared to the past. Previously it has taken towering performances to bring down the Australians, and injuries to important opponents. England took three years to prepare for the 2005 Ashes and another three years to recover from them.

In that series India won in 2001, Shane Warne was only half-fit, besides which Rahul Dravid and V. V. S. Laxman built a miraculous partnership, and some of the umpiring at Eden Gardens was dodgy.

Now the boot is on the other foot. Now the critical players sit in the opposing camp. Virender Sehwag did not play in any of the defeats suffered in the but contentious series down under. Nor did Gautam Gambhir or Ishant Sharma. The conclusion is clear. When both sides are at full strength, and all other things being equal, India has the edge. And, on the evidence seen in Mohali, not only India. Australia had nothing to grizzle about, not home-made pitches or dubious decisions or queasy stomachs or absentees. Ricky Ponting and his players were beaten fair and square, and by 320 runs.

The emphatic nature of the defeat was its central point. Any team can get rolled now and then. Every sportsman knows that the difference between victory and defeat is seldom as wide as afterwards it may seem. Even the bare facts were staggering; Australia beaten by 320 runs after India had declared its second innings closed with seven wickets still to fall.

Had India’s innings run its course the visitors might have lost by 600. Yet it was worse even than that.

On the opening day India lost a flurry of wickets to a mixture of bad luck and overconfidence. Otherwise its batsmen dictated terms. Several of them were caught in the deep chasing runs. It’s hard to remember a leg before appeal or a false stroke suggesting that the batsmen’s occupation was in peril. The conclusion cannot be avoided. The margin of victory did not flatter the hosts. It flattered the Australians.

Although the pitch was as flat as rolled dough, Ricky Ponting and his players made batting look difficult. In the first innings most of the visiting batsmen lost their wickets playing defensive strokes, departing bowled neck and crop or leg before or caught around the bat. Determined to make amends, some of them played risky strokes in their second attempt and left the arena with heads bowed. It was an inept showing.

Yet the batting was the strongpoint. Australia’s fielding was ragged and its bowling was toothless. Admittedly Stuart Clarke was missing as was Andrew Symonds, whose unbridled aggression is sorely needed. They might have closed the gap, but not by much. And neither is in the first flush of youth. None of the leather-flingers made an impression; none was able to find anything in the pitch. Although none of them had previously played Test cricket in this country, none of them is wet behind the ears. Yet India might have been bowling on a different track and with a different ball.

And it goes further still. Dhoni comprehensively out-captained his counterpart. He played exactly the right innings, made precisely the right moves whilst his field placements and bowling changes demonstrated a desire to keep ahead of the game.

Contrastingly Ponting looked impotent and rattled. India was also superior off the field, which has not always been the case. The local selectors and coaching staff outplayed their counterparts almost as much as the other departments. India dared to play an unfashionable leg-spinner, albeit a proven performer and the bowlers had the skill needed to make the ball talk. Ishant and Zaheer used the old ball superbly and to devastating effect. The tourists huffed and puffed without blowing any houses down.

It is the nature of sport that Australia might bounce back in Delhi. Nothing is impossible in any game so dependent on luck. Ponting might win the toss. Matthew Hayden may recover from one of the spells of excess he periodically suffers, Clarke and Lee might rouse themselves, and so on and so forth. After all Australia had been slightly the better side a week earlier in Bangalore. But it’s hard to avoid thinking that it’d be a dead cat bounce. Unavoidably Australia has replaced great players with good players and it is showing. To make matters worse the party is also weaker off the field.

Apparently Warren Buffet is buying equities. Whether the Sage of Omaha would be game enough to buy shares in this staggering Australian side is anyone’s guess.

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