Before proceeding with part 2 of this series, please read part 1 here and part 2 here
The 2011 tour
The 2011 Australian team was a poor team when compared to the teams from 1999. In an exact replica of 1991, the 2011 Indian team were again aged and over the hill players. Reflexes were down. Nevertheless, the 4-0 thrashing was unexpected because it was a period when Indian team had started to win atleast one test in every series outside India and Australia weren’t that good either. Things were even worse because the same set of players had lost another series in England 4-0 and yet no change was made. Dhoni was unable to turn the tide and he was uninspiring as well. He just didn’t know what to do.
The board was absolutely inept and Dhoni was not replaced as captain despite losing 2 successive series and he continued to be the captain even in 2015 which the Indian team lost 2-0. To see a Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey score so many runs after struggling for more than 3 years, to see Clarke score a triple hundred and Warner score a hundred before lunch, it was all way too much. Infact, after the 2nd test, I stopped watching the rest and I did not even look at the scorecard. The series was that depressing. It was really a wonder how Dhoni managed to keep his captaincy despite such humiliation. Ofcourse, the truth came out later.
Feeling despondent
It was then I lost all hopes of ever seeing India win a series in Australia. If India was incapable of defeating such a poor, untalented Australia when they were at their absolute worst, what hopes do we have when they will eventually find good players? I thought that India must never ever tour and we will have to play only within India. Then, things started to turn. Dhoni resigned and Kohli became the captain. Though I am not a great fan of Kohli’s captaincy, he atleast had the guts to change how we approach series outside of India.
The series win that I was waiting for but…..
Kohli wanted to build an attack with fast bowlers and not rely on spinners and slow bowlers. It proved to be a good strategy and suddenly, India were able to find fast bowlers who were capable of bowling sides out everywhere and the batsmen were ready to play shots and take blows. India went into the 2018 series as the favourites and duly won the first test but lost the next one. I had this strange feeling that we were absolutely better than the Australian team and the loss at Perth was only an aberration and that we will eventually win at Melbourne and Sydney. We won at Melbourne after a marathon innings from Pujara and should have won at Sydney if not for rain wiping away 1.5 day’s play.
Yes, India have won. For the first time in Australia. However, I just like millions of other Indian fans had this strange feeling that this victory wasn’t complete. Australia missed their 2 important batsmen in Smith & Warner. Yes, Australia had a strong bowling attack but they never had the batsmen to score runs for the bowlers to defend. Infact, the first test at Adelaide was too close for comfort because we won by just 31 runs and if those batsmen had been playing, we may have lost that test. There was always an asterix against the win. I wanted the world to stand still so that India would never have to tour Australia again and lose. How wrong was I?
Finally, a dream fulfilled
Within 2 years of an epic win, India again travelled to Australia and this time not only Australia had their complete team, they were ranked number one and have retained the Ashes in England and have thrashed Pakistan and New Zealand. They were quite cocky and were high on confidence and performance. Smith was back and performing like he never went away. To make matters worse, India went into the series somewhat tired after IPL and being inside the bubble. Ishant Sharma, who was to form a three pronged attack wasn’t fit and eventually missed the entire series. What happened subsequently throughout the series is too fresh. After the debacle of Adelaide, I was livid. I wrote a piece that titled A disgrace called Indian team.
I never thought that the Indian team after such a drubbing will even be able to draw one game. I thought 4-0 is nothing but given. I was livid with Pujara for playing too slowly at Adelaide. At Rahane for being useless and at Bumrah for being ineffective. At Vihari and Saha for being so hopeless. At Prithvi Shaw for a waste of space. However, the team’s performance post Adelaide was nothing but extraordinary. On the very last day, I watched every ball.
With the loss of every wicket, I wanted the team to play for a draw because with such a depleted team, a draw was as good as a win. When Pant scored that winning runs, I cried because after 40 years, a youngster’s dream finally fulfilled. We have defeated a strong Australian side. There is no asterix against the win. Infact, an Indian D team defeated an Australian main team. I will savour this win for a very longtime.