One of the pre-series promos for the Indian series down under on Star Cricket featured a few Australian cricketers saying something that went like this - "Every ball that would be bowled down under...will be a total ripper". Well after all that we have been privileged/unfortunate to see during the series, you can easily say the whole tour did live up to it's billing on all counts of entertainment value. It was such a roller-coaster ride for everybody: the players, the supporters and the media on either side of the hemisphere.I am of the opinion that the whole tour had enough number of eventful occasions that could leave quite a few equations in cricket changed/reversed.
Aussies are beatable at home - tests or one-dayers
So what if the Aussies ended up winning the test series 2-1. It wasn't achieved by them convincingly enough to say they are invincible. Excepting the first test, they looked to be in trouble in all the other 3 tests. Had it not to be for some shocking umpiring decisions (I do agree test cricket are full of umpiring errors but what happened in the second test was hardly acceptable) and the sensational collapse of India on the last day of the Sydney test, India could well have come up trumps. Remember we had fallen just 2 wickets short the last time around. Given these Indian performances, there should be a general understanding around the world as to what kind of combination teams touring Down Under should have to have a real chance of achieving the so called unachievable feat of beating the Aussies.
Now lets look at the one day series. When was the last time, since Australia began their domination after the 99 World Cup triumph, that Australia looked so vulnerable? My mind dates back to a few years back when the Kiwis, led by speedster Shane Bond seemed to have a measure of them - but they didn't go on to win the series. England did achieve the feat in the last series - but England didn't get their due because they had struggled in the league fixtures and it was seen to be a flash in the pan more than anything else. The recently concluded series was probably the first time Australia seemed to be under pressure all throughout. Right from the time India beat them in the early stage Australia looked uncomfortable, even while playing the Lankans. So when India went into the finals, Australians weren't exactly the favourites. And the outcome is there for all of us to see!
Youth is the name of the game
One of the fall-outs of the Australian loss the hovering axe around old men in the Aussie camp. There is a realization for the need to build a younger side and they are now trying to revamp the team in favour of more youngsters. Everybody's been complaining about the amount of cricket that is being played. In fact, I was unhappy about the amount of cricket the Indian team had been playing going into the tour. They had just one preparation match to start with! But how did India end up winning? It has to be down to what lot of people thought would turn out to be their problem - picking many youngsters in the side. Now that India has succeeded with such a young side, the focus in world cricket is bound to move towards picking younger cricketers - stressing on fresh legs and fearless minds. Such is the impact the Indian team's victory down under will have. Most modern day sports have tended to go the youth way - football, tennis, F1 and cricket is no exception.
The clout called BCCI
It's unmistakable! BCCI with its huge influence backed by it's money is going to have it's say in matters its thinks are important to it's interests. And the racism-row was the perfect example for it. No matter what the ICC had to say to downplay the role of BCCI in getting it's favoured judgment, there's no doubt the Indian cricket board is turning out to be the big brother of world cricket. The introduction of IPL and the display of huge bucks involved is another thing that' clinches the issue in BCCI's favour. Watch out, IPL could be the next big thing in cricket!
Umpires can't go scot-free
Bad umpiring has been a bane of Test cricket. But the ICC has been playing down the issue with the excuse of human error. It isn't always easy to stomach it. When things got worse in the Sydney test, BCCI again showed it's clout to get Bucknor out of the whole series - probably for the first time ever. Even if you attribute it to the clout of the BCCI, it does send a strong signal to erring umpires and to the ICC itself about the importance of bringing in more technology into umpiring decisions. It also brings up another point - the best umpires should be allowed to stand in the most important matches. So Simon Touffel - the best umpire at this point in time shouldn't be prevented from standing in an Aus Vs India match just because of his nationality.
Aussies can get "mentally disintegrated" after all
Well this is a case of one's medicine turning into his own poison. Aussies are well known to sledge to gain a mental upper hand over opponents. But this time around, when they're sportsmanship was rightly questioned and in fact criticized widely by their own media, it got to them. Ponting was under pressure right through the series and his loss of form - from the best batsman in the world to being a 19-year old's bunny is the testimony to the fact that the pressure tactics had backfired on him. Andrew Symonds and Matty Hayden, two men who seemed to have issues with Harbhajan were both out in both the final matches to Harbhajan himself - while perhaps trying to prove a point or two.
Captaincy doesn't need you to be experienced if you can be aggressive
Quite a few eye-brows were raised when Dhoni was selected as the 20-20 captain. But it paid off in the best possible way. Yet Dhoni's accession to the hot-seat of Indian one-day side wasn't seen as something that would come through easily. Yet Dhoni showed that he could pass the litmus test in a series as tough as this with, flying colours - through sheer audacity and maturity. He's showed that he could play a sheet-anchor's role to perfection as well as his typical flamboyant game. His ability to make instinctive decisions and bold ones at that has been quite a revelation as far as I am concerned - for example he was prepared to go with Praveen Kumar instead of an experienced Sehwag and how well that paid off!
Sachin is Sachin anywhere, anytime!
This tour possibly was the last Australian tour for Sachin. And how well he played to make it a memorable one! His test match form had been good since the England series and he took it a few notches higher with the performances at Sydney and Adelaide. It was amazing to see him attack bowlers, specially Brad Hogg - very reminiscent of his scathing attack on Warne in India a few years back when he single handedly won us the series while showing Bradmansque form.
Sachin's test performance notwithstanding, when he failed to bat at his usual best in the one-dayers, his detractors were back at it again calling him a failure specially while chasing runs. And has Sachin silenced these critics forever with those finals' performances! May be they (read Indian detractors) should take a leaf out of the Aussie media and learn to give the great man all his due respect. Rest assured, all his doomsday naysayers can now sit back, with mouths taped and watch the master walk into his dusk as gloriously as he rose in his dawn. Sanjay Manjrekar, are you listening?
