It’s been a happening week for Team India as it battled with the Australians and lost the seven-match ODI series with consecutive defeats – in a home series it was heavily fancied to win.
With four first-choice players injured before the tour began and five more shipped off midway, facing powerful India at home, the Aussies were looking down the barrel. Six games later, they had snaffled the trophy 4-2 through a typically professional display. More runs, more wickets, but less flash, as Australian drab outplayed Indian glam. One comparison in particular is telling:
India’s best bowler was the vastly experienced Harbhajan Singh, with eight wickets in six games at an average of 33.87. He reached the milestone of 200 ODIs for India during the series – Australia’s standout bowler, Doug Bollinger, came in with only three ODIs to his name. It didn’t stop him from taking nine wickets at an average of 19.33 and grabbing a series-best, match-winning haul of 5-35 in only his fourth game in the subcontinent. That maiden five-wicket performance wasn’t on a minefield – it was simply a matter of good line and length exploiting moderately favorable conditions in the finest tradition of Glenn McGrath.
A major factor in the Australian series triumph, one that captain Ricky Ponting has compared to their World Cup wins, was the spirit and attitude of the side. Discipline was only the way in which the Australians performed their jobs; the motivation was something else entirely: Australianism.
If only Team India fought with the passion and intensity of Sachin Tendulkar...Source: Reuters
It came to the fore in the series opener at Vadodara, where the visitors held their nerve against a late flurry to win by four runs. Then, in the fourth ODI at Hyderabad, a lesser side would have crumbled under Sachin Tendulkar’s superlative and indescribably majestic 175 off 141 deliveries. Clint McKay, on his ODI debut no less, took a breath and delivered a slower ball to outfox Tendulkar, who had made his debut when McKay was only 6. Even then, an Indian victory was by no means out of the question – but Australia triumphed again. Wisden Cricinfo then quoted the late, great commentator John Arlott thusly:
“Australianism means single-minded determination to win – to win within the laws but, if necessary, to the last limit within them. It means where the ‘impossible’ is within the realm of what the human body can do, there are Australians who believe that they can do it – and who have succeeded often enough to make us wonder if anything is impossible to them. It means they have never lost a match – particularly a Test match – until the last run is scored or their last wicket down.”
That’s the reason they’ve been one of the most successful teams in the world over the past century. They’ve always been counted amongst the very best, and both Steve Waugh’s and Don Bradman’s Invincibles compare to any great outfit in any sport across the world. The result of an excellent domestic policy that provides both the facilities and opportunities for talent to develop, meritocracy, a history of great leaders, and – most crucially – a national culture that values discipline, effort, grit, and winning.
That is Australianism – exemplified by David Boon’s classic battle against India and dehydration in Madras, which helped Australia believe in itself after years in the doldrums, and Steve Waugh’s over-my-dead-body innings that marked a turning point in world cricket and officially established Australian dominance.
It has been said of Australia that they never beat themselves – if you want to win against Australia, you have to push them all the way and really outplay them throughout the course of the game. For most other teams, the fall of a symbol can signal failure, even if success is within grasp. Ask Sachin Tendulkar, who singlehandedly dragged his team nearly to the top of Mountain 351 and was then failed yet again with a paltry 19 runs to get.
Author:Nabeel Ahmed
