BOMBAY, 26 December 2003 — India’s fabulous victory in Adelaide has had an interesting reaction in Australia, from being condescendingly congratulatory to being bitter and curt and some have even feigned indifference to India’s victory. The condescending ones have as usual said how Australia can’t win every game and how it is great for cricket in the world and India in particular.
The bitter ones have pointed out that Australia were without Lee, McGrath and Warne forgetting that India also were without Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh and the ones feigning indifference have said that they follow tennis and not cricket. Remember Australia were beaten by England in the Rugby World Cup and in swimming the Americans have given them a hard time recently so they cannot say that these are the sports to follow so because they have won the Davis Cup they pretend that they are following tennis and not any other sport.
Australians love their country to win and like most others used to winning are bad losers. There is no doubt that they will come back extremely hard in the remaining two Tests but the manner in which the Adelaide Test was won does give the confidence that the Indian team is not going to be cowed down. Sure Australia might end up winning but they will not get a walk over from this team.
Steve Waugh opined that it was not a crime to lose a Test and if that reporting is correct then it’s the second time in two Tests that he has brought the word in his interaction with the media. The first time was in response to the criticism in the media especially from former Aussie Test players about the run-out mix up with Martyn in the first Test where he said that the reporting made it look as if he had committed a crime. Then again after the loss he is reported to have said the same thing. Whatever the reason for Waugh to use such strong words the fact is that there was a pretty public fallout with the coach John Buchanan who had said that the batting was the most immature and the shot selection poor in the second innings when they got knocked over for 196.
That was disputed by the captain who said that it was the policy to play attacking cricket, and thus get into positions whereby they could pressure the opposition, that led to the way they batted and got out.
Such a public fallout was seized upon by the media though they have not gone to town about it as would have happened in India if the Indian captain had publicly disagreed with what the coach said. Buchanan is a clever wordsmith who has deflected attention from this squabble neatly but it has been noticed by the Indian team who now can see that there are cracks in the Australian team.
These cracks were evident during the first Test itself when Brad Williams who was omitted from the eleven returned to Perth and said that he did not get picked because he bowled with the wrong arm. Although he was reprimanded and he apologized for his outburst it showed that all is not well in the champion’s camp. He was counseled by the Cricket Australia and was picked to play in the next Test where he bowled just two good overs in the second innings to Rahul Dravid.
Nathan Bracken the left-hander who was dropped for Williams wisely kept his counsel and did not say a word but he must have had a quiet chuckle for Virender Sehwag helped India to get a brisk start in both the innings and Bracken has had his number in the games that he has played against the dasher, be it a limited overs game or the longer format.
In the vital second innings Australia needed to pick early wickets to put doubts in India’s mind and it did not happen and India were able to go to bed on the fourth evening in a far more relaxed state than if they had lost early wickets. Williams but for those few overs hardly looked like getting past the bat and quite frankly MacGill looked the substitute spinner that he is.
This is not the first time that he has not won a game for Australia having failed to use a worn wicket in Sydney last year against the English and then a couple of months later against the West Indies at Antigua where on a turning pitch they successfully chased a record 400 plus score in the final innings. Gillespie is injury prone and so if one plays him quietly then the effort under the hot sun takes toll of his fragile body and he invariably limps out.
Even as India won the Adelaide Test the Aussie papers were giving bold headlines to Lee looking forward to bowling to the Indian batsmen. It may not be easy for Lee to go flat out especially after an ankle surgery but his extra pace will make it a different ball game than in Brisbane and Adelaide. The biggest difference of course is the absence of McGrath and Warne for these are proven match winners and have made simple targets for the opposition look extremely difficult.
The one thing to notice is that even for such established figures like Lee and McGrath the selectors insist that they play in a first class game and show their match fitness and only then are they considered for the Tests. After all if a player breaks down in a Test after coming back from an injury it is the team that will suffer. The other thing to notice is how Brad Williams who was dropped from the first eleven requested a release so that he could go and play for his state Western Australia and prove to the selectors that he deserved to be picked.
No Indian player would ever ask the national selectors for permission to go and play a Ranji game if he is dropped from the Test eleven and instead would like to stay on and enjoy the perks of being in the Test squad and yes no Indian player is likely to be picked again after complaining about being dropped.
India may have beaten Australia in Adelaide but there are still things to be learned from the Australians and their system.
