With the tri-series that turned bi-series being washed out in Sri Lanka, the Indians begin their season with another tri-series against world champions Australia and the West Indies.
Hopefully the weather in Kuala Lumpur will hold, otherwise we may be in for some truncated matches. The Indians and the Australians have prepared for the season with some army type training, while the West Indians have probably loosened their limbs at the nearest discotheque.
Whatever the preparation, it is how that space between the two ears reacts to situations, that will determine the outcome. There’s no doubt that the Australians are pretty good in that department for their extraordinary ability to pull out that something extra that helps them to overcome critical situations.
Call it confidence, call it superiority complex, call it anything but when a team is brim full of that then they seem to find a way out of the mud and come out smiling. Yes there’s always the possibility that there’s a surplus of this quality called confidence that can lead to complacency and thus to disaster, but the comeback is pretty rapid too. Indians too have players who have that quality in abundance but perhaps not as a team like the Australians have. The West Indians of the 1970s till early 1990s had it too, but now like India they too have some players who have it.
The Aussies start as the favorites especially with the return of McGrath to the side. He is not only a wicket-taker but also one who strangles the run scoring and builds pressure on the opposition. Australia will be hoping for big things from left-handed new comer, Johnson, who creates nice angles with his deliveries and gets unexpected pace and bounce. The Aussie bowlers will be backed by some splendid fielding and that will make it hard for the opposition to pile on the runs. Even if they do, the Aussies in spite of not having Adam Gilchrist in the team have a formidable batting line-up led by Ricky Ponting, who was in phenomenal form last season.
Having had a long break from international cricket, the Aussies would want this first international outing of theirs since then to be a successful one so that they are in a good frame of mind for the Champions Trophy which they have never won and the Ashes series that follows. They will be the team to beat in this tournament.
The West Indians too have had very little cricket after their series against India that finished in early July. So their players too will be keen and raring to go.
Brian Lara seems to have revitalized the team and there’s a greater belief in themselves now than say before Lara took over as captain again. Where they may lack is in the temperament stakes, for they are vulnerable when pressured though having said that, they handled pressure very well against India in their one-day series. Still a lot will depend on the skipper himself and if he fires, not only will the viewers be delighted, the West Indians should have good scores for their fragile bowling department to defend.
India have the ability to upset, but like the West Indies their bowling department is a bit iffy and unlike the Australians the Indian fielding has more players to hide than is needed at this level. Still if the batting clicks big time then there should be no worries about the bowling department. All eyes will be on the ‘little champion’ as he makes a return to international cricket after almost 6 months out of it.
His clash with McGrath, who also has been out of international cricket for a long time, will probably decide the outcome of the India - Australia game. If the weather holds then we will get to see which ‘boot camp’ made men out of international cricketers.
