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India eye WTC finals berth after dethroning Aussies from number one position

Abhishek Singh

With a historic 2-1 series win over Australia by winning the last Test in what was called the fortress of the Australian team in Gabba, Brisbane, the Ajinkya Rahane led side has now firmly set its eyes on the World Test Championship finals to be held in June this year. 

India almost certain of reaching WTC Finals

The Indian team after the three-wicket win, which they achieved by chasing the third-highest total in their Test history so far (328 runs), has pushed their tally of points in the WTC to 430 out of a possible 600. Before the start of the Australian series, the Indian team was at 360 points. With 430 points in their kitty, their Percentage of Points (POP) total has now reached 71.7% and has pushed it to go above New Zealand to occupy the first spot in the WTC Points table.

With its last series scheduled to be played at home against New Zealand and on pitches that offer a great amount of turn, there seems to be no problem for the Indian team winning just two more tests. With at least two wins and two draws, the Indian team would move on to 510 points out of a maximum of 720 and thus ahead of second-placed New Zealand. 

Australia suffer big, have a daunting task ahead

On the other hand, this series has turned out to be a disaster for the Aussies as from 82.2% POP at the start of it, they have now moved to a dismal 69.2 with just a solitary win and a draw to take from the series. They have slipped from the top spot now to the third spot and with the only series left to be played against South Africa and in South Africa, their position in the finals of the WTC looks in jeopardy. 

Now to make sure they qualify for the finals, they have to win the three-match series against the South African team 2-0 at the least if not 3-0. If they win two-Test and draw the last one, they will have 433.3 points which will be more than the New Zealand team and can hence qualify, but if they lose even one game, their dream of playing the WTC finals won’t see daylight if Indian team plays as expected from it. 

To know where were the teams placed before the start of the Aus-Ind Test series and what were their chances then, read this. 

Where are the Kiwis headed?

New Zealand, the number one ranked Test team are stable and will remain so at  70.% as they don’t have any more games left to play. However, they would wish that South Africa wins at least one game against the Aussies or draw two and between India and England, any team which wins the series, wins it big. 

Only wins can take England home

England won the first Test of teh Sri Lanka series, albeit in a fashion in which they would have not liked to. But with Joe Root hitting a double century, the ‘poms’ as they are called would count on their skipper to perform and to make sure that they reach the finals, which is to be played at the Mecca of Cricket- Lord’s. 

But for that to happen, England, which are at 352 points currently, have to win all their five games or at least four games including the last of the series against Sri Lanka. If not that they have to win at least three and get a draw in the fourth game. With five wins they would reach 532 points and with four wins and a draw they would reach 512, but with just four wins and a loss in the India series, they would have 502 points, which would not be enough. So simply put, they would need to win the Sri Lanka Test most definitely and then try and win three against Australia and get a draw in teh last game, if they can’t win the fourth one. 

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3 most memorable Australian defeats

India captain Virat Kohli in one tweet summed up the team’s performance in the series against Australia in Brisbane. “WHAT A WIN!!! Yessssss. To everyone who doubted us after Adelaide, stand up and take notice. Exemplary performance but the grit and determination was the standout for us the whole way. Well done to all the boys and the management. Enjoy this historic feat lads. Cheers,” he wrote. Well as an Indian fan, you can’t deny the fact that this team has actually showed courage and determination to defend the Border-Gavaskar trophy. While an Indian supporter is delighted, the Aussie fans would be pissed with the kind of display their team had shown. From bundling out a team at 36, they suffered a 2-1 defeat in the four-match Test series and especially at home. What actually went wrong? To start with, skipper Tim Paine’s captaincy has been one questionable aspect. From forcing the pacers to go for an extra bit to putting defensive fields whenever a batsman was on song, Paine certainly got everything wrong. The excessive workload on the seamers resulted in Indian batsmen getting the room for settling in and getting their eye in. Cheteshwar Pujara who was being criticised for “slow batting” literally sat at the crease and didn’t get out easily on the couple of occasions when it was most needed. While Pujara frustrated the Australian bowlers with his defence, Rishabh Pant was ready for the uphill task. He let himself to settle down and then took on the bowling attack in both the third and fourth Test respectively. While he scored 97 in the second innings of the third Test while remained unbeaten at 89 in the second innings of the last match. Pant and Pujara’s contrasting traits supported each other well. Apart from this partnership, another couple of stands made the headlines. R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari’s courageous display of batting despite being injured in the third Test while Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur’s strong-headed approach when the side was in trouble. While you can’t take away the credits from the kind of batting they unveiled, it was a lot to do with Paine’s captaincy. The captain persisted at bowling the seamers that eventually led them to burn out and resulted in building partnerships for India. The Aussie bowling bowling line up was eventually frustrated, irritated and their shoulder dropped in disarray. India eventually clinched a win by 2-1 and are now sitting at the helm in WTC points table. Instances when Australia choked Ashes 2005 The Australian team was touring England in 2005 for the Ashes series. They started off the series in a great manner after winning the first match by a comprehensive margin of 239 runs. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne had gained some form. McGrath scalped 9 wickets in the match while Warne bagged six. But then came the turnaround in the match that could have gone either way and probably changed the complexion of the series too. Riding on Marcus Trescothick’s 90, England posted 407 in the first innings and then took the first innings lead after bowling out Australia for 308. The visitors then had fightback and Brett Lee and Warne rattled the English batting line up. England had been bundled out for 182 in the second innings handing them a target of 282. The Ricky-Ponting led Australian side was 220/9 when the real drama began. Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz stitched a partnership of 59 runs for the last wicket and needed just three more to win when Stephen Harrison removed Kasprowicz for 20. England had fought hard for this win but eventually levelled the series and got the momentum back in their favour. The third Test ended in a draw after the batsmen had some good day at the office. Michael Vaughan struck a hundred for England in the first innings taking their score to 302 while Andrew Strauss and Ricky Ponting notched up individual tons in the second innings. The fourth Test in Nottingham unfolded the reason why Test cricket is the still the best form. England had posted 477 in the first innings and then en-forced a follow on after bowling them out for 218. Australia responded well in the second innings scored 387 to hand the home an easy target of 129. But England were in a spot of bother when they reduced to 57/4. But Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff steadied the ship and scored 46 runs for the fifth wicket. The hosts then lost a couple of more wickets but eventually won the game to take 2-1 lead in the series. The fifth and final Test in London also ended in a draw. Australia tour of India 2001 How many of you have received some beating from your mother for watching a cricket match while your final term exams were on? I have. I was probably 8 or 9 when this series took place in India. Belonging to an orthodox family where “studies come first” was the mantra for life, the biggest trouble I had to face was to watch a cricket match especially when the examinations are on. Well I was someone who could take the beating but can’t miss the match and if I would have missed that mammoth stand between Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, I would have regretted for life. But I don’t have to because I didn’t miss it. India were coming in this match with a defeat in their kitty against Australia in Mumbai. Chasing a paltry 47, the Australian team went over the line by 10 wickets. Adding to the misery in the first innings of the second Test, Steve Waugh scored a ton while Matthew Hayden missed out on a hundred by just three runs. But there was something for the Indian fans as off-spinner Harbhajan Singh scalped a seven-wicket haul including a hat trick. But the Australian pace attack rattled Indian batting and en-forced a follow on as the home side was all out for 171 in the first innings. Then came the big day for Indian cricket. Dravid and Laxman were together out in the middle as India’s scoresheet read 232/4. The two put on a huge partnership of 376 with Laxman scoring 281 and Dravid getting out for 180 as India finished the second innings at 657/7 (D). Chasing 384, Australia didn’t really find any momentum and were bowled out for 212, losing the match by 171 runs. Harbhajan Singh once again showed his class and bagged six wickets. India had gained confidence from the win in the second Test as the two sides locked horns in Chennai for the decider. India posted 501 in reply to Australia’s 391 in the first innings and were eventually handed a target of 155 in the second innings. Australian bowlers did fight well and reduced India to 135/6 with the likes of Laxman, Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar back in the hut. But Sameer Dighe held the innings from one end and remained unbeaten at 22 to anchor the team to a series win. There have been instances where Australia have started off the series well but a defeat has pushed them on the backfoot and eventually resulting in series loss.

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Historic Gabba defeat: What all Paine, Australia think tank need to rejig

Pat Cummins, the number one Test bowler, Josh Hazlewood, the dark horse and Mitchell Starc, probably one of the finest left-arm pacers that the world cricket has ever seen. The trio has the ability to rip apart any batting line up in the world. BUT they were frustrated, hapless and irritated as the series against India reached the its final moments. They had bowled against resilient Cheteshwar Pujara who would probably settle down on that batting crease if the team needs. And if Pujara’s stubbornness wasn’t enough to exasperate the Australian bowling, wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant’s belligerence with the bat added to their misery. But was it just the Indian batsmen who had forced the Australian pacers to work like bonded labor or was there anything more to it? And the answer is, there was definitely something more and it was Tim Paine's dependence on the pace attack rather than banking on his part-timers to get through some overs and ask the front line seamers to rest. Cummins and Hazlewood have specifically bowled with a certain plan and were dominant but had also burned out after going all guns blazing. Pacers workload With no major changes in the XI and no tweaks at all in the bowling department, the fast bowling trio was loaded with extra bit of work. In the first match against India, Starc bowled a total of 26 overs, Hazlewood, 25 and Cummins almost 31. This was because India were bundled out for 31 in the second innings giving away the match after steady start. The second encounter saw an increase in this workload. Starc and Hazlewood had bowled around 30 overs each while Cummins had 28 overs to his name. India won this match by 8 wickets. The third clash that was one of the most frustrating ones for the Australian side saw Starc bowling 41 overs, Hazlewood, 47 and Cummins around 47. This ended in a draw, courtesy a fine partnership between R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari on the final day. The series was now levelled at 1-1 with the decider slated to take place in Brisbane. India had been running short of players before going into the game after some mainstays had sustained injuries, they had been racially abused but the determination that the Indian team showed that exemplary courage and grabbed the series. Well talking about the work load in this match too, Starc was made to bowl 32 overs, Hazlewood 42 and Cummins 48. It’s shear negligence from Paine that the fast bowlers had literally dropped the shoulder at the end. The Australian team management needs to rejig and tweak a number of things and probably give a second thought to Paine’s continuing as skipper. What options did Paine have? We all know Marnus Labuschagne as the next big thing especially in Test cricket. But very few would know that he had been a handy bowler too for Australia in the matches or innings that he had been handed the ball. Let’s go back to Ashes 2019 where Labuschagne came in as a concussion substitute for Steve Smith and soon became an integral part of the Australian setup. Well, his batting abilities are well-versed now, let’s have a look at his bowling. The leggier as his bowling style suggests bowled 18 overs in three matches and gave 56 runs and also picked up a wicket. Cut down to 2021, the Test series vs India. The leg-spinner has bowled in almost every match but hasn't bowled for a very long time. He bowled one over in the first innings of the first Test, one over in the second innings of the second Test, three and four overs in either innings of the third Test respectively while bowled an over in each innings in the fourth Test. The totally of his overs against India came down to 11 overs, well short of the number he bowled against England. What India takes away? EVERYTHING. India would take away a lot of positives from the series. Winning and losing, as they say is a part of the game but in this manner shows the calibre and determination of a team. They were bundled out for 36 in the first match, they had been lost mainstays due to injuries, their captain had left after the first match and they had a young, inexperienced bowling attack that lived up to the expectation. KUDOS to Indian team for such a performance.

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Mohammed Siraj: Meteoric rise of a hero Indian cricket deserves

Inside out | Mohammed Siraj: Meteoric rise of a star in making What can be the worst tragedy to endure for a man in his mid-20s? Also, what can be the biggest occasion for a young cricketer on an international tour representing his country? While a Test debut can be the answer of the second question for a majority of cricketers across the world, the answer to the first question can vary. In the case of Mohammaed Siraj though, the answer to the first questions was tragic and soul-wrenching loss of father. When he was bought in the IPL auction, his father who was showing immense amount of grit to aid his son in pursuing his passion for cricket, was ecstatic along with the whole family. But, Siraj knew his father had his eyes on the big prize, and hence when he would have been weighing the option of withdrawing himself from the tour with the news of father’s demise, his wishes must have outweighed his pain and emotions. It must have been a horrible moment for Siraj who had to pick one option among seeing his father’s face for one last time and playing on for India, the goal his father had his eyes on and Siraj emerged as a strong-headed person who had the guts to contemplate preferring pragmatism over his emotions in the phase of a grief. The option of giving it in the moments of grief could well have been an easier option for him considering he is part of the system that allowed the captain and the best batsman in the lineup to take a paternity leave in mid of the tour considering the place families hold in players’ life irrespective of how bigger are stakes on their professional lives. But, how could he do that? How could he choose an easier option being the proud son of a father who did not take an easier option of suggesting his son to focus on study and disheartening him away from cricket. Giving up in the wake of tough choices could not have been a fitting tribute to his father and ultimately, Siraj clinged on to the larger picture and as one of the renowned basketball coaches John Woodenit once said ‘Sports don’t build character; they reveal it’, he revealed the kind of mindset he has based his career on. All these stories of overcoming grief and personal tragedy can’t guarantee your success on the field and if that was the case, among the 135 crore population of the country, there will be millions of people with such heartwarming stories but they all can’t succeed at the competitive level. To succeed at that highest level, and especially in international cricket, you need to back all those fascinatingly inspiring stories with performances, substantive ones at that on the field to leave a lasting impression. Siraj wasn't in the reckoning to feature in the playing Xi starting the series although India were missing the ever so reliable Ishant Sharma. Senior pro Umesh Yadav was picked to replace Sharma for the first Test at Adelaide, and for Siraj to make a mark on the series, and actually achieve something if not great for the price he had paid by not going back home. The god must have had enough of the pain given to him, and then it was the chance of one of his teammates to deal with some of it as Mohammed Shami fractured his arm and got ruled out of the series after the Adelaide Test that ended as a nightmare for his team. Then too Siraj has to stake claim for his place in the Xi to replace Shami, but he was more incisive in warm up games and net sessions to edge out Navdeep Saini to earn the right to make his Test debut at the MCG. Australia won the toss and the stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane had to marshall his troops along to check Australia for running away with the game. Rahane seemed to be reluctant to use Siraj in the first session of that Test in order to ease him through and Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin made sure that the captain’s plan of providing Siraj a smooth introduction into Test cricket worked perfectly well. There must have been certain sense of anxieties among Indian fans when they had seen Shami walking out of the ground in serious pain as the memory of a limping Zaheer Khan walking off from the Lord’s a decade ago and India never coming back in the series against England almost a decade ago has never vanished from their minds. The fans must have been anxious about how a rookie will compensate for the loss of someone as reliable as Shami let alone the task of filling his boots. Indian pacers don’t have a good history of starting their careers on high in overseas Tests, and in a way Siraj has to defy yet another oddity, but he was on the money from the word go as the very first ball in his Test career pitched in and around off stump and teased the batsman Trvis Head into playing, but the left-hander was circumspect at that point. Siraj was not picked rightway from the domestic circuit on the basis of raw talent and express pace, but his perseverance in the longer format in the Ranji Trophy and later on with the India-A team had put him the contention to be one of the frontrunners to replace the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sahrma and Shami. All those long spells in first-class cricket were showing up in his control of the length as he kept on pitching it fuller to the batsman at the ‘G’. He was asked to bowl according to a specific field position which was commonly called ‘leg trap’ through which the Indian team had drawn strategies to choke runs and force the Australian batsmen in playing shots in too much eagerness after a phase of dry overs. He delivered by inducing one of the desired false shots from the big fish in the opposition camp—Marnus Labuschagne and Siraj was up and running in his Test career for which stakes were so high. He showed the level of temperament too rich for a bowler on his Test debut and persisted on with tight line around off stump, but in his mind, as always, Siraj had a bigger picture, of setting up the right hander Cameron Green who was getting used to the balls that were leaving him from the line of the off stump. He was eagle-eyed and when he attempted to use his change delivery, he made sure the length was full enough to get the better of the batsman. Those two dismissals extracted in two completely contrasting manners established the variety in Siraj the bowler and by the time Australia had finished their first innings, the nervousness and the jittery feeling of a Test debut were overcomed. He finished with five wickets in his Test debut and played a perfect helping hand for the likes of Bumrah, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in helping India level the series. Siraj had announced his arrival at the big stage and it augured well for India midway in the series, but the injury spree didn’t end at the MCG as well with Umesh Yadav injuring his groin so badly to never come back again in the match and the rest of the series. With his persistence, and the bad luck of others, Siraj was rising through the ranks and for the third Test at the SCG, he was the new ball bowler for India, and it showed something about both him as the bowler who had won the confidence of his captain and also about the state of the team. The SCG pitch was staring in the face of bowlers and there was a dangerous sign for India from the opposition camp as well with the return of David Warner, although the southpaw was not 100 per cent fit. Even a 70 per cent fit Warner was good enough to thwart India’s plans with the new ball in Sydney, at least the Australian think tank thought so. Not Siraj though, as he brought another aspect of his game—having a good heart to risk getting slapped with expansive shots in search of wicket taking deliveries around the off stump. Like at the MCG, Siraj was up to the task he had set for himself as Warner was lured into driving at one he could have left easily, but it wasn’t only Siraj’s excellence with the ball that was doing everything well for him. He has a perfect ingredient of being a successful bowler in the longer format, and he put all of that on display by keeping his hustle all along spells and not showing signs of giving up in his running as he kept on running in and toiled hard, but the docile pitch at the SCG could ot help him more than offering a bit of movement with the new ball. Siraj had already made a mark in his just two and half match long Test career, but the grief and personal trauma was not over yet. The crowd at the SCG was not at all sympathetic to him for braving all his pain and grief to put up strong performances, let alone being impressed by his heroics. He was subjected to racial abuse from the spectators present at the ground, but it only came to the notice of fans and media when the team management in the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane approached the match officials after the end of the third day’s play. It showed that although those spectators who were not worthy of witnessing a fierce contest between bat and ball, and rather showing their upbringings by trying to bring a contest between race and ethnicity, tried to get under his skin, he was calm in his riposte and did not fall in the trap. The crowd behaviour in Australia can make you look like a fool and land you in trouble and even the best of crickets have fallen in theat trap (Virat Kohli in 2011), but Siraj had not lost his skills of eyeing a bigger prize even one bit. The injury spree got only hevier for the tourists as India had nly Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara left from the playing XI of the first Test at the Adelaide Oval as eight of them succumbed to some sort of injuries. If the promotion to a new ball bowler was not reflection of the team’s increasing dependence on Siraj, the promotion to the leader of the attack for the Brisbane Test was a sheer case of the gold giving him the chance to lead an Indian bowling attack having been a veteran of just two Tests. The pressure was on the hosts after failing to seal a win at the SCG and they could not have asked for a better venue than the Gabba which has been a fortress for them in the last three decades. No wonder Tim Paine had issued a warning to Ashwin on the eagerness of the Australian team to unleash their heat on the Indian batsmen at the Gabba, and the addition of Hanuma Vihari, Jadeja, Ashwin and Bumrah to the long list of injured players were really ominous signs for the tourists. Once again Paine won the toss and decided to bat India out of the game by piling on the big score in the first innings. Things were so desperate for India that they had to offer a Test debut to two bowlers who were not rated good enough even to be included in the squad and were overstaying with the team just to provide net practice. Once again Rahane needed a hero to rise through all the mounting challenges, and once again Siraj put his hands up by dismissing Warner, and leading the attack to check the Australian batsmen from running away with the game. Such was the gulf in experience between the two sides that at one stage the batting pair of Smith and Labuschagne had more wickets in tests than the combined tally of Indian bowling attack, but that did not deter them in putting a tremendous effort and stopping the juggernaut well below the expected number at 369. The job was not finished though as India were still reeling behind Australia’s first innings score and at one point on the fourth day morning, the Australian pair of Labuschagne and Smith looked threatening to take the game away from the Indian team. In came Siraj and produced one of the searing unplayable deliveries of the game and Labuschnage who was batting like a dream until that point could do nothing but to edge it to Rohit Shrma in the second slip. The right hander was in good form and had scored century in the first innings, but Siraj proved to be too good for him and more importantly when the team desperately needed the ‘leader’ of the attack to bring about a resurgence. Matthew Wade was outdone by luck and by that time in the series, Sraj had won more good luck than Wade, who was guilty of throwing too many starts in the series and Indian were right back in the contest. Smith was still there and so was the chance of India getting so far behind in the game, but Siraj ‘s eyes were still focussed on the patches on the pitch that were offering a lot more assistance than other[parts of the pitch and ultimately Smith was done in by a delivery that reared off from the good length area. Smith and Labuschagne were the best batsmen for Australia in the last 18 months of cricket and the way Siraj dismissed them showed his game awareness and skills to execute the plans which must have left the three senior batsmen in the Indian camp standing in the slip cordon one after the other. The trio of Rahane, Rohit and Pujara have had many of those deliveries from the Australins over the last three tours they have came and have tasted success for a period of time, but not as a whole, and the feeling of watching someone from their own side talking to Australians in the same language of intensity and fire must have been surreal. It was only fitting that Siraj was the last wicket taker for India in the series and he finished his maiden fifer in a very short career so far, but there are enough signs that hint he is the one for the future. Before this final Test of the series, the hosts were bundled out twice in a Test at the Gabba only on two occasions in the last three decades, and leading such an inexperienced attack to that monumental height ratified the standings and respect Siraj has earned over the course of his three-match long career. Indian batsmen brought about a memorable victory for the team that will be etched in the long-lasting history of indian cricket on the final day, but Siraj had well completed his job by the end of the penultimate day of the series where he started as a bowler who was shielded before being launched into the roughness of the Test cricket to successfully transforming himself as a leading force behind a possible Australian capitulation at their fortress. Almost on all instances team members ask the bowler who get most wickets to lead them off the park, but for Siraj it must have been something much more deeper and it was clearly evident when he and Bumrah embraced each other in a bear hug on the boundary line after bowling out Australia in their own den. When Siraj closed his eyes while hugging Bumrah to acknowledge the moment, he must have looked back at what he has been able to achieve in such a short career, and how proud his father could have been on him had he been alive. It wasn’t to be, after all, he could not have brought his father back from the heaven by bowling his heart out like he could bring India back in the game on numerous occasions in the series, and hence the celebration by pointing his hands towards the sky will live on.