THE thumping manner and margin of victory that Australia managed in the best-of-three final of the recently concluded triangular series is a clear indication that the India simply ran out of gas at the fag end of the tour. It also suggests that the Australians have an amazing capacity to lift their game when it matters.
When they were down in the Test series, they came from behind and managed the equalizer. When they were pushed on to the back foot in the last Test, they played out of their skin to managed a draw. At the start of the One Day part of the season, the beginning was not that auspicious by Australian standards. There were hopes of close encounters in the three-match final, but such hopes had an early and unsung death. The margins said it all: by seven wickets in the first match, and 208 runs in the second. Of course, there was no need to go for the third as the issue was already settled by then.
It was so depressing that Sunil Gavaskar called the Indian side to be the “biggest chokers” of world cricket. Though the words might have been a little harsh, there is no doubt that Gavaskar was not too far from what it really is like.
The damp note on which the tour came to an end for the Indians means much of the good work that they had done during the summer is now lost. The momentum of the side has been broken and they would be leaving Australia with drooping shoulders. While the management and the captain would do everything to talk about the positives — and there were many, mind you — and cheer everyone up, the activity will itself mean that the boys are in need of a pep talk. It is only after they perform once again on the field that this feeling of being down and out would go away.
How bad things can be was demonstrated by the captain himself. Sourav Ganguly and his side had no complaints all through the summer. They said nothing about the media or the players or about the scheduling of the matches or even about the playing surfaces. It was because the team was performing beyond its own potential and things seem to be falling in place and minor incidents were ignored because the general mood in the camp was on a high.
However, things changed once the team lost the first final by seven wickets and the second final was all but over even before the Indians had started their innings to chase 360. All of a sudden, Ganguly had problems with sledging and found it bad enough to report the matter to his Australian counterpart. This was simply a result of frustration on the part of the Indian captain.
It is unimaginable that there would have been no prior incident of sledging during the summer. It is, after all, part of the Australian way of going about their cricket. It is just that it didn’t sound all that bad to the Indian ears. It sounded bad when the results stopped coming their way. This happens when a side is down on confidence and morale, and the Indian side was no exception.
From Pakistan’s point of view, with the series against India just round the corner, the situation could not have been better. Man-to-man, India still seems to have advantage over us as far as paper strength of the side is concerned. A creditable performance in the finals would have surely sustained the momentum India had gained through the summer. But now, it will have to start afresh though it will need no better incentive to do that than to have Pakistan as the opponent.
THE thumping manner and margin of victory that Australia managed in the best-of-three final of the recently concluded triangular series is a clear indication that the India simply ran out of gas at the fag end of the tour. It also suggests that the Australians have an amazing capacity to lift their game when it matters.
