I and probably every other India fan thought the match was a goner when Australia were 135 for 0 at lunch. I mean, seriously, how many good Indian fightbacks have we been fotunate enough to see over the last few years against Australia? Barring that wonderful Adelaide test in 2003/2004 of course. It was a tough one and as Cricinfo had rightly pointed out yesterday, India needed to pull bunnies and many other things (or the proverbial blue whale that I like to talk about) out of that hat if they wanted to challenge Australia. That too while bowling- because it was our bowling attack that was supposed to be inexperienced and weak.
But Lo And Behold, by the end of the day, Australia had been reduced to a 300+ for 9. When everybody least expects India to deliver, they will stand up and decide to be heroes. If you want proof- just look at the T20 World Cup. At the start of the series, who in the world would have predicted that India would even get to the semi finals, let alone win the cup? And that too by defeating arch-rivals Pakistan? If anyone had said that, he'd probably have been labelled loony and everyone would have moved on with their lives. Even Indian fans didn't have much hope. But then suddenly- India were lifting the T20 cup! When did THAT happen? :O
Today, Anil Kumble was magnificient. Absolutely brilliant. He varied his deliveries amazingly and got a five for in the first day. Captain Courageous, Captain Respected, Captain Competitive, Captain Thoughtful- he was all of it. Zaks got 3, RP 1 and Bhajji none but all of them bowled their hearts out- especially after lunch.
I know that India are perfectly likely to have a major collapse tomorrow when they bat- because the Aussie pace attack is incredibly good. But nobody expected them to do well so soon- so tonight merits a celebration. As for tomorrow, we'll deal with that when it comes.
And to get a good idea of what was expected of India- go read this article.
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I'll just quote some funny/ pleasing bits:
So jet-lagged were a few Indian players on arrival that some spent the first few days in Melbourne sleeping. It helped that the warm-up match against Victoria was rained off, allowing them a longer rest. And if they were still struggling, there was always Boxing Day, a bank holiday. India normally spend the first day of an away series sleeping and by lunch today they were sleepwalking. What followed was pleasantly shocking and not Indian cricket as we've come to know it.
By lunch, they were indeed sleepwalking. It was such an unremarkable session that I didn't even realise when they went for lunch- maybe I was asleep on the sofa because India was being about as useful as I am being right now. :P
In the tenth over of the day, RP Singh, just crunched past point for four, was asking for another slip. But he seemed the only one awake at the time; Phil Jaques promptly edged the next one through the vacant fourth-slip region.
No prizes for guessing why that bit makes me happy and sad at the same time.
India returned from lunch revived - fittingly, given that their countrymen were waking up back home.
Well said.
Till next time then- hopefully I will not be writing about India's miserable collapse.
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