If India were beaten but not disgraced, shaken but not stirred, they may have to thank Murali Vijay for it. The batsman not only scored close to 500 runs but also showed the ideal temperament for a Test cricket opener, leaving almost as many balls as he scores off. He took the pressure off the one drop batsman and allowed Virat Kohli the freedom to strike by setting up a good base in at least three of the four Tests and also helped save the fourth.
Skipper Kohli’s 1-1 (one win-one draw) record could have been so much better had his brave decision to chase down the humongous target in Adelaide not come a cropper by just 48 runs. No one did more to sustain the awesome batting reputation that Sachin Tendulkar built up in Australia, a country that still rates him the highest as a competitor in tough or adverse conditions.
Kohli surpassed Sachin in the matter of centuries as well as aggregate in a tough series Down Under and if the Oz don’t accept him that much yet, it may be put down to the angry young skipper’s confrontational attitude. Such an approach may be right up there in the Ugly Aussie league on the field of play but it seems to have upset the hosts as it had to do with the word ‘respect’ that they seem to cherish even more as it also points to spunk in sporting battles.
Ajinkya Rahane may have suffered more at the hands of the erring umpires than most, but then is he to blame if the BCCI sticks to its silly stand on the replays that guide the referral system He showed tremendous guts for a batsman who is not as inclined to stay back as Vijay and Kohli did on their shrewd understanding of Australian pitches. He took on Mitchell Johnson and came out ahead, which is saying a lot considering how good the pacer is when he is allowed to get on top.
The surfaces themselves, with the exception of the Gabba in Brisbane, may not have lived up to their reputation for being hard and fast. Even so, it takes a lot of adjustments to get in and stay in enough to be able to translate all the scoring opportunities that come on the better cricket pitches of world cricket. The conditions in at least three of four Tests may have been more subcontinental than truly Australian. It is a pity then that Team India were in some position to win only in one Test of four.
The batting triumvirate carried India on their shoulders, so much that Dhoni’s contributions were hardly missed even when he was very much in the mix in the middle two of four Tests. That he threw it away in mid stride is still being talked about. He could, however, be forgiven for snapping because India’s bowlers are most unsparing of wicket-keepers who work overtime to bear the brunt of their ineffectual ways, never more displayed than in Ishant Sharma’s wickets at 48 apiece and he is the strike bowler.
After the 2-0 in Australia, India are down further to no. 7 in the Test match ladder of merit, an index of all that has gone wrong since the reluctant tourists of 2011-12 began their journey into England and Australia. Dhoni had to quit at some point to allow someone else to take a tilt at repairing the sagging Test match reputation. That he tarried for a little longer may have made matters considerably worse for his successor.
Everything will, however, boil down to how well Indians can bowl abroad to get 20 wickets in a Test in a reasonable time-to-runs frame, a feat that has eluded them so often as to make it a bewildering phenomenon, which may even trace its causes to the social structure of Indian life of the rich and famous who have servants at their beck and call to do the odd jobs. But then they can’t bowl for their masters like they used to in the time of the maharajahs.
We know now why Kohli has his task as Test captain cut out for him as he to inculcate his mental toughness on his fast bowlers first.
