Steve Waugh famously called winning a Test Series in India as his final frontier. He was unable to conquer it. Some trophies even elude the greats. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman had a reciprocal feeling like Steve Waugh towards winning a Test Series in Australia. For over decades, winning in Australia has been the Indian Cricket Team’s final frontier. I am aware that the team hasn’t won in South Africa too, but the series against the Proteas was never as dramatic. The recently concluded series has a special place amongst people who have followed the Indian Cricket for that reason. This series is the equivalent of Australia winning the 2004 test series in India. There are many experts who can analyse the statistics and the technique way better than me, I want to focus on the pure spectator aspects of the series.
Let the Indian team enjoy the fruit
As a neutral cricket fan, I want to start by requesting the sceptics in India to enjoy the moment and allow the team to enjoy the moment. The Indian Cricket Team and it’s management has worked extremely hard for this series. It is never easy to win in Australia irrespective of whether they have 2 players missing. Let the team bask in the glory. They deserve it.
Healthy Rivalry
The series has its share of sparks, sledging, aggression and passion. The spectators were always kept engaged. There weren’t any dull moments. Then there were moments of extreme comradery between the members. The picture of Rishab Pant with Tim Paine’s kids, Virat Kohli in pink for the McGrath Foundation, Ricky Ponting calling for respect for Kohli and finally Kohli defending Mitchell Starc were some defining moments.
Preparation
Both teams prepared for this series extremely well. The quality of cricket was very high. We did not see either team give it easily without a fight. The effort which went behind the scenes shouldn’t be discounted based on the result. The quality of fielding and the speed at which the fast bowlers bowled under tough conditions reflected the effort that has gone into this series.
No one pulled a punch
The scoreline didn’t reflect the moments which were extremely intense and intriguing. Pujara’s batting, Nathan Lyon’s spell in the first two matches, Kohli’s hundred at Perth, opening day partnership between Harris and Finch at Perth, Bumrah’s spell in MCG, the opening partnership between Vihari and Agarwal on Boxing Day, the barrage of bouncers by Cummins and Starc on the opening day at SCG and finally Pant’s controlled hundred at SCG were game of highest quality. They made the ticket cost worth every cent. The scoreline doesn’t say how well the teams competed.
Don’t count the Australian team out
I haven’t seen a better Indian bowling unit in my 30 years of watching the sport. There was no weak link and the hunted as a pack of wolves. The Australia team just happened to face them at their peak and it should not be used to define their ability. Their bowling unit is definitely one of the best in the world. Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Tim Paine and Pat Cummins are excellent with the bat.
Demystifying a skeptic's world 