INTIMIDATION… DOWN UNDER!

After months and years of contemplation, finally I am doing it. My lazy attitude has got the better of me all this while and stopped me from doing this. Not anymore. After a huge fight with my laziness, and my eventual victory over it, finally I am writing. Probably I was waiting for the Australian squad to be announced for the Boxing Day test. I think that is what (fortunately or unfortunately) triggered me. And of course, credit must also go to my friend Nikhil (CricCrazyNiks, as most of you better know him) for pushing me to do it. So after all the explaining and thanksgiving, we get down to business.

First and foremost, let me tell you that I devote as much of my time thinking, watching or playing cricket as much as I devote to eating (those who have seen me can vouch for it that it amounts to almost all my time). So I think I can, in all fairness, write about cricket. It is a passion. It is my only religion. It will continue to be for as long as I continue eating (rest assured, for a very long time to come). So it is that time of the cricketing calendar yet again when Team India is down under. The test series is upon us. The 16 men (and the support staff) who matter have been there preparing for about 10 days now. They have already played a couple of warm up games and by all accounts are in good stead for Boxing Day. The focus here though, is on the Aussies. As usual, when the Men in Blue are down under, mind games cannot be far away. So take a guess people, who has spoken up yet again? Who has tried to intimidate Team India? The wily old fox is at it yet again, Glenn McGrath. He has backed the Aussie batters to “do the business” and the bowlers to trouble the famed Indian batting. The outstanding ability that he had as a bowler, for pitching every ball exactly where he wanted to and making most batsmen look like fish out of water when they faced him, is matched by the ability he has for intimidating the opposition. He is crickets very own (and earlier) version of the Late Mr. Paul, the Octopus. He famously predicted a huge series win for Australia before every series and they did win most of them.  Shane Warne has also come out and said that the Indians need to be wary of this “young” Australian side because they have a lot of talent and the ability to beat India. Mr. Ian Chappell wrote in one of his (so many) columns that bowling is India’s weak link and with Zaheer and Ishant under a cloud of injury, the Aussie batting can make the Indian bowlers toil. He has also predicted that the likes of Siddle, Pattinson and Starc can cause a lot of problems to the Indian batting with their raw pace and bounce.

Temperatures have usually flared in most of the recent India-Australia encounters

Let us put things into perspective. The days when Glenn McGrath used to make those preposterous predictions at the beginning of a series and still get away with it, were the days when the Aussie line up comprised of Langer, Hayden, M. Hussey(in top form), Gilchrist (at no.7!!) and a little matter of Warne, Lee (at full steam) and himself. That team, how much ever we hate them, was good enough to instill the fear of God into any opposition. They were the best and mighty hard to beat.  The 13 (instead of the usual 12 – first signs of discomfort) member Australian squad for the first test was announced earlier today. I went through it over and over again, and believe me – it was not anywhere close to as intimidating as the team McGrath used to play in. Shane Warne (who very recently posted a picture of himself with his friends, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, on his twitter account) was a master of his art. Probably the best exponent of leg spin bowling the world has ever seen, and with the current scenario, probably the best the world will see for a long time to come. It is easy to understand why he is friends with Sachin and Rahul. With Sachin, so that he can avoid those nightmares (which I believe might still haunt him) and with Rahul, because these days you can do anything, but get him out. You do not want foes of that caliber. They are surely better off as friends, I have to agree. But what he could not do, or McGrath and Lee could not do (tame the Indian batting), he expects this current bowling attack to do (well it really doesn’t help that Sachin and Rahul are playing cricket from the time some of these bowlers probably did not even understand what cricket is). Now to my favorite, Mr. Chappell (Ian, of course. Don’t even mention Greg), in another of his (so many) columns has said it is time for Clarke to come in at 3, because Ponting is no longer in his prime and it is time for him to step down from the no.3 slot, for Australia to find a long term solution at no.3 in Clarke. With even Michael Hussey’s place in the side and form, both in jeopardy, the middle order looks shaky. The Australian openers on Boxing Day will have a combined experience of 2 test matches (Warner -2 and Cowan -0). In all probability, Daniel Christian will slot in at no.6 for his first Baggy Green. Haddin has not been among the runs either. Not a very pretty picture. They have all come out and said things, but the evidence is too appalling to ignore.

I guess it’s time for a reality check. The Australian team in no way is a walk over and because they are playing at home and the way they have been brought up, they will be competitive. But if the ex-players and media think this side is good enough to intimidate the Indian side, their view has been distorted. Yes, India are traditionally slow starters. Yes, India can under-perform. But if at the beginning of a series one team has to be the favorite and one team has to be the underdog, then by any cricketing and logical parameter (batting, bowling, experience, and sheer statistics), India have to be favorites and the Aussies, even though at home, have to be the underdogs. The fact that all the Aussie batsmen had to attend a "batting camp" in the lead up to this series shows how much respect they have for this Indian side and how hard they need to prepare to stand any chance of doing well in the series. It is highly unlikely, but if Australia go on to win at Melbourne, it will be only because a team with lesser ability and experience performed better than a team which had much greater ability and experience. And those things do happen in cricket, so there is still hope for the Aussies, but it is very little. It certainly does not help that all the players in the Aussie squad are going to come out of the Big Bash to play in the Boxing Day test. T20 is surely not an ideal way of preparing for Test cricket (remember India's tour to England after the IPL?). And as far as the intimidation and the mind games go, this Indian team are going to give it back  as good as they get it. This Indian team is used to winning trophies under M.S.Dhoni.  Every trophy that was earlier missing from the cabinet has been added. This trophy, of winning a test series in Australia, is missing. What do Dhoni and his boys do when they see a trophy which is missing from their cabinet? They go ahead and win it. So probably for the first time at home, Kangaroos beware! The Indian Tigers have arrived! And this time they are there for the kill!

My next feature: A one to one comparison of both the probable starting XI’s for the Boxing Day Test.