India has just completed their most comprehensive win over Australia in recent memory. Still, there lingers a feeling of dissatisfaction and hollowness. The hard-fought series win in India in 2000-01, the drawn 2003-04 series in Australia, and even the 2-1 loss earlier this year in Australia bring with them vivid memories and a longing for more.
Australian cricket has always been described as positive, aggressive, and pleasing to the eye. Often distracted by their elevated status and “bad boys” reputation, opponents have been mentally deflated even before a ball has been bowled. On the pitch, their unrelenting quest for victory, immaculate preparation, and visible hunger to be the best, has made them not only the ultimate team to beat but also the team silently admired by cricket fans across the world. It thus follows that to judge a team was to judge how they performed against Australia in a Test match. Winning a Test match against them would turn heads and raise eyebrows and overcoming them in a Test series would be regarded as the zenith of a teams’ success.
To defeat Australia was considered synonymous to playing the perfect game. No diffident captain would succeed and nothing short of an incandescent display would suffice. To defeat Australia would imply breathtaking batting, disciplined bowling and an abundance of passion on the field. It would require the experienced players to turn back time and the youth to mature overnight. Spectators would be treated to the highs and the lows of those 5 days with one twinge of hope and another of anxiety. There would be twists, some more twists, and then some turns – for Australia never loses easily. Indeed, to see your team defeat Australia was as exhausting as it was exhilarating.
Still, as I woke up on the last day of the forth and final Test match at 4 am to see the action before I plodded off to work, there was a distinct sense of indifference. This was not the same Australia. This was an Australia who on occasion had flattered to deceive but were in truth well short of the form and the ability one had come to know over the past decade (particularly with the ball). This was an Australia that had been halted by a gritty tail-ender’s partnership (Singh is King), bogged down by ugly tactics (Dhoni's Defence), and forced into submission by sheer stupidity (Ponting's Tactics). Though the series did come with events to write home about – Gambhir and Laxman’s double centuries, Krezja’s 10-for on debut, Kumble and Ganguly’s wonderful careers coming to an end, Tendulkar’s world record, Sharma and Zaheer’s reverse swing bowling and Gambhir and Watson’s emergence into Test cricket proper – it still lacked the nuances, the debate, and the fire this match up has traditionally brought to our living rooms.
India are rightful holders of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but it has come at a cost. As Cricinfo's Sambit Bal writes very eloquently “For years the rest of the world tried and failed to catch up with Australia. That era has now ended and now it is a more level playing field in Test cricket. That is not necessarily good news, for the bar has been lowered.” (Lowering the bar)
It is now the duty of MS Dhoni and his team of stars to grab the baton dangling in front of them and take Indian cricket to the heights they are capable of. This on top of the burdens of batting, wicket-keeping and captaining the most demanding cricket nation in the world – so no pressure then!
