Before proceeding with part 2 of this series, please read part 1 here.
India not having won a series in Australia
My interest in the game and on Indian cricket was kindled. I recollected some statistics from memory because www.espncricinfo.com, the grand daddy of all cricket sites wasn’t even conceived at that point, that India had never won a test series in Australia until the World Championship. Infact, India had won their first test in Australia after 20 years spread over 4 series. Not that India have won lot more tests and series in other countries but winning in Australia always had that special feeling when compared to other countries. It was no different for me. I really wanted India to win when the spectacle is this good. I wanted India to be the first Asian team to win in Australia.
The Australian team of the late 80s were reeling because of multiple retirements but they still were difficult team to defeat. England and West Indies won but they did not have it easy. For the teams from the sub-continent, it was bloody hard even against a weakened Australia. That was when it dawned on me how tough it is winning in Australia.
India got our chance to win in 1985. Except for Allan Border, the rest were new or with hardly any experience. On the otherhand, India was extremely experienced and it was actually thought that India will finally be able to win a test series in Australia. However, India weren’t able to win one of the two tests in which they had a real winning chance. In the first they didn’t scores runs quickly and in the second, they weren’t able to dismiss Merv Hughes. Alas, that chance went abegging. I was only 10 at that time so the failure to win the series didn’t hurt that much. On the otherhand, it felt better because India did not lose.
The disastrous tour of 1991
Then came the disastrous tour of 1991. India had almost an identical team from 1985. With 6 years gone by, most of the players were over the hill. Kapil Dev was hanging by the thread because he was approaching a world record. Quite contrast, Australian team were on a high. They were on the way to become the best team in the world. As expected, India were humiliated. I remember having a dreaded feeling of the entire tour. For me more than the loss, the humiliation of losing 4 games was overbearing.
I was completely dejected after such annihilation. At that point, I didn’t see the Indian team getting any better. A feeling of rage was prevalent. I was quite angry with the board because I wasn’t able to understand why we weren’t able to produce fast bowlers and terrorise the Australians? To make matters worse, the Indian team performed pooly in the 1991 World Cup. After a few days, it sort of subsided until the next outdoor series.
Every series to Australia creates lot of expectations for the Indian fans. We hope that atleast this time, we will be able to win the series but everytime, our hopes were belied. Also, because of the uncompetitive nature of an Indian series, Australian board weren’t prepared to invite India for a series that frequently. This was far cry from how Indian series is viewed now.
Jayant Lele should have been charged
It was after 8 years India travelled to Australia. This time Australia were at the prime with world class players and no one really had any expectation except for Australia to sweep the series which they duly did.
I remember Jayant Lele, one of the board member predicting Australia to win all the 3 tests. It is onething for an ordinary fan to expect that but completely different for a board member to say so. To make matters worse, the Indian team wasn’t winning anywhere else. Successive losses in England, South Africa, West Indies dampened the following for the game and the team. Match fixing burst onto the scene at that point and it was gloomy throughout the country. More than the loss, it was the pain of watching the opposition batsmen score gigantic runs and the Indian batsmen struggle to save the game.
New millennium
The dawn of the millennium promised to change the fortunes of the Indian team because we had quite a few excellent batsmen. Added to that the captaincy of Ganguly followed by India finally winning a few games outside the sub-continent. My hopes were again increased. Not only the fans, now even the players started to believe. The Indian team played brilliantly to draw the series in England. Expectations rose sky high. I firmly felt that India finally had a team that will put across one over Australia in 2004. My fortunes changed as well because I had to move to Germany for work. As such, access to live cricket was non-existent and I had to rely on internet for scores which again wasn’t that freely available either. Living in Europe, it was extremely difficult to know the scores unless I was at work where internet was available.
Going to an internet café was not an option because it wasn’t cheap. Not to mention the hours of play which was way too early in the morning because of the time difference between Australia and Western Europe. It was a nerve wracking wait especially when India were doing well. India came pretty close to winning our first series. With the series locked at 1 game apiece, a brilliant batting display in the final test increased the expectation to a feverish pitch but Steve Waugh with his typical pugnacious innings was able to draw the game. Nevertheless, a drawn series in Australia when the Australian team were winning across the world was as good as a win and I was pretty pleased. I remember sitting at an internet café on the last day and willing for a wicket to fall every over but it wasn’t to be.
Nonetheless, the wait for a series win in Australia endured
I was still living in Europe when the most controversial series happened in 2007. The Symonds-Harbhajan saga is well known. I was seething with rage not because of the fight between those players but because Steve Bucknor wasn’t able to see properly and failed to rule Symonds out after a clear edge was taken by Dhoni. All kinds of abuse was hurled on Bucknor. Steve Bucknor seemed to have a bias against India all the time. Immediately, a few past incidents flashed across. The Jonty Rhodes runout, the Tendulkar decision and a few others. I wanted BCCI to raise this matter with ICC and get Bucker officially banned from umpiring in games involving India.
Alongwith that, the unruly behaviour of the Australian team, claiming a bumped ball, Clarke not accepting that he dropped a catch and the fact that India lost 3 wickets with just an over to be bowled because of outrageous umpiring. I wanted India to somehow thrash Australia in the next game. India having denied a win at Sydney came back brilliantly at Perth. By this time, internet became cheaper and I watched the last day of the Perth test with bated breadth. I was over the moon when the final wicket fell after some anxious moments. Yes the series was lost but it wasn’t because of want of effort on the part of the Indian team but we were rather cheated. The unanimous opinion was that if Bucker had given Symonds, India would have rather won the series.