The Indian tour of Australia has ended, the Indian fans are over excited and the Australian fans are still confused over the defeat of their world beating team, they are still figuring out what went wrong, in the Australian Newspapers and cricket circles many reasons for the defeat are circulating some blame it on poor batting and some on the distractions caused by IPL, while others blame it on the controversies during the tour and player burn out.
When Australia was beaten by England in straight matches last year similar theories started to float in cricket circles that the Australians are no longer invincible and their crown has slipped but they went on to win the WC07 without losing a match and proved all the pundits who were betting against them wrong, Australia are still the best side in the world on paper but in the recently concluded CB series India were the best team.After having beaten India in India the Aussie’s became complacent and made a fatal mistake of not planning against a new Indian team, which comprised of mostly young players who had never played in Australia before, most of the Australian batsmen played the hit and miss game during the ODI’s, the role play game which has been the Hall mark of Australian batting line up during the last decade was never employed in this series, the Australian batsmen came to the crease with an angry mind set trying to prove a point against their tormentors and lost their wickets in an uncharacteristic fashion, they never tried to build their innings by grinding out the overs, at times they looked in a rush and showed no respect to their young and inexperienced opponents and paid the price, while India on the other hand did their home work for the finals, they figured out that the best way to post a decent total was by not taking un necessary risks in the first 15 overs, and to accumulate during the middle overs. Their plan was successful only because Sachin came to form just in time.
Australians have out stretched their talent pool, the new 30 plus year players who are coming out are good but they are no match of the players who just retired, Hussey and Hopes can bat and score but not at a high rate. Aussie bowling is just fine although they are struggling with the spin department the part time spin of Symonds and Clarke is below average both of them failed to make an impact on the series, they need to fill this hole in their bowling. In batting they will have to fill the vacuum left by the retirement of Adam Gilchrist as his replacement Brad Haddin is an average player. But their biggest worry comes from their middle order Ponting is in real bad form during this last year he does not look like the player he used to be, will he regain his form or will he be replaced like his predecessor? It’s yet to be seen, the other Star performer Symonds he is also in a bad patch, CA faces a huge rebuilding task in front of them, the current combination has been exposed, unless these players strike form and start playing like a well oiled machine multiple changes in the Australian team are eminent.India on the other hand might get delusional by their recent victory, although hats off to them for winning the CB series but to think that this team has become world beater will be too far fetched, but one thing with which I am impressed is that Indians selectors are thinking out of the box, now they don’t go for big names they go for the right combination and this strategy has paid huge dividends to them. They have found some exciting new talent in bowling but they are going to lose some big names in batting over the next year and the new batting talent has not been able to display the same class as Sachin, Dravid or Ganguly, the Indian team is all set for the short run but in the long run they face some major concerns.
Australia again are trying to avoid penalties by saying that the tour is being postponed and not canceled.PCB should file for damages as soon as possible if they want to get a firm commitment for the upcoming Champions trophy and the postponed tour, the matter should be taken to arbitration as soon as possible.
The suicide bombings are taking place every now and then in Pakistan and it might take some time until the terrorists are eradicated thats a fact but this is also a fact that just in last month more than 150 people got killed in Srilanka because of violence related to Tamil rebels does it mean that no team will tour Srilanka any more until peace is restored?
This is also a fact that Australia refused to tour Pakistan for one reason or another during the last 10 years on the pretext of security,while almost every other test playing country visited Pakistan at least twice during these last 10 years and no cricketer ever got harmed in any terrorist attack in Pakistan.
Its a fact that the current situation in Pakistan is bad but the Australian players and their board were expressing reluctance even before the asassination of Benazir,whether it is a way to impose invisible sanctions or genuine security concerns,PCB should not take a soft stand on this issue as the future of Pakistan cricket is at stake. Both Asia Cup and Champions trophy are in danger,Nasim Ashraf when he meets his CA couterpart in Dubai later this month should get a guarantee from ICC and CA that both these tournaments will not get affected, if a guarantee is not provided then PCB should send the matter for arbitration without wasting any more time.
Wasim,
I think the Indian pitches will suit P.Kumar more as he is not very quick and his deliveries will not come on easily to the bat. Ishant may find it more difficult to adjust because of his pace. I feel the bowling coach Prasad should work on all the pacers and help them to adjust on the low and slow tracks.
Samy:
Do you think Ishaant and Praveen Kumar will be effective on Indian docile tracks against International teams?
Kasim Saheb:
You are right about the Aussie’s but the recent bombings in Lahore didn’t helped Pakistan’s case,CA completely stumped PCB in this case they kept PCB in the limbo by sending conflicting signals about the tour, their policy apparently was to buy time by keeping quite and not to allow Pakistan enough time before the tour to lobby against them.PCB management is being run by complete idiots, they should have been on the offensive since the first news came out from Australia about the cancellation of the tour.
CA during this time has taken all the preventive measures to avoid the penalty they are fully prepared.
If this series gets canceled then in the next two years Pakistan will only play three test matches most of our senior players will be retired by then.Under the current management Pakistan cricket is on the verge of extinction.
Another point that I would like to dwell upon is the CA’s decision to cancel the forthcoming tour of Pakistan.
There are several reasons put forward by different people for the this absured decision, viz, security concern and players burn-out.
But in my humble opinion, the main reason is the greed of money. Most of the Australian players who are or will be playing in the IPL or ICL are not afraid that they will be targeted by the Indian crowd in the the stadias or the streets or the hotels where they will be staying because of their behaviour and reception to the Indian team Down Under or the tiredness or burn-out, but they are scared of coming to Pakistan despite the assurance of PCB of 100% fool-proof round-the-clock security and Head of State Reception to them, they are tired and feel burned-out!!!
What a double standard!! There can’t be a more sinister plot than this. Some Noble Prize Winner novelist would be proud to script such a plot!!!
You are right on the dot that Australians were out there without any game plan and wanted to prove that they are invincible.
India on the other hand chose their team carefully, keeping an eye on the future and introducing young and fresh talent, which paid off handsomly.
But to suggest that India has become #1 team in the world is as ridiculous as assuming that India has become Super Power. By having a population of more than a billion hungry and starving people and a few thousand Billionaires dose’nt make a country super power.
It takes more than a win, a sustained supremacy, the like the Australians had for decades on, that would entitle India to claim the #1 position.
I felt many of the Aussie players appeared fatigued in the finals after the long ODI and Test series while on the other hand, most of India’s players were fresh as they played only the one-dayers. So although Aus lost the series and have concerns over the form and retirement of their players, I do not think the CA should panic just yet. Aus would truly have lost their No.1 status only if this sort of performance continues.
As for India, I feel they have a long way to go before they can be called the next invincible team. Complacency and player injuries and retirements are major issues that can creep in. So
even though this win was a step in the right direction, it would be difficult for India to maintain the kind of fitness and consistency Aussie teams have managed for more than a decade.
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Stacey Derbinshire