Why India Shouldn’t Read Too Much Between The Lines From This Spectacular Series Win Vs AUS
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Australia were handed crushing defeats in first two ODIs vs India [AP]
“When the world turns its back on you, you turn the back on the world.”
Not Shakespeare. Not Shashi Tharoor in a charismatic rebuke, albeit one lacking high-octane lingo either.
That’s definitely not some jingoism that would seemingly have come from a piece of literature that deals with war or those things!
These are lines from Disney’s mega-successful and much-loved Lion King that perhaps, in a sense, explain what’s happening to Australia.
Nothing’s going right for them, at least, at the moment, is it?
With Smith seeming out of touch with the bat, having scored a duck at Mohali, Josh Inglis suddenly finding himself into the scheme of things, there already being little idea about Maxwell’s current level of fitness, and regular captain Cummins having played just one of the two games held in the series, and that too, sans much success, it appears as though Australia are down.
That some may conclude they’re not just down but on current form, even out of sorts, could well be gauged in the manner of their defeats.
In the opening one-dayer, India whipped the visitors by five wickets; the game was won rather easily with eight deliveries remaining.
In the next game, the trio of Hazlewood, Cameron Green, Abbott and company found the long levers of Surya and Gill hard to grapple with, not that a certain Iyer wasn’t on song.
Now, while the purists may describe the Indore one-dayer as being an occasion where the tigers got quite simply hunted the kangaroos, any observer who loves his literature just as he loves his cricket would rather call it proper bashing.
The Australians had to suffer the ignominy of a 99-run defeat, this being their most recent with another match to play.
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Australia were thrashed in the 2nd ODI in Indore [AP]
For a team that battles fire with fire and doesn’t really give up until the final ball of the game is bowled, Australia, already in a disadvantageous position in that they’re not Down Under, are facing a team that’s peaking at the right time.
Of course, it’s not a good time then for Cummins and Smith and whoever comes to skipper the side in this final one-dayer.
However, that one singular will be such a key that it could both lead the Australians to a state of meltdown or could well pave the way for new confidence building.
However, for the latter to happen, one will need to find a way to escape unscathed from the butchering blade of not one or two or three, but four really in-form Indian batters.
There’s Shubman Gill, the man with most centuries for India in the calendar year. There’s the consistent white ball action figure Ishan Kishan, who’s been just as good in fifty-over cricket as he was back in the Caribbean during his Test debut. Then there’s Shreyas Iyer, fresh off a compelling hundred.
What’s more, there’s a certain Suryakumar Yadav, who, at the back of being called names and subjected to trolls in the wake of his infamous three consecutive ducks earlier this year, has woken up to worry the same team that took the Micky out of him.
Right ahead of one day cricket’s most coveted stage, i.e., the World Cup, the team currently being led by no fixed captain in particular- Smith led at Indore while Cummins at Mohali- faces the threat of being whitewashed.
This isn’t where Australia would’ve liked to be.
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Sure, Australia can afford a series defeat. That won’t change the dynamics of the quintessentially competitive and always eager-to-strike-back unit. But to be beaten by India once again will dent the confidence of the side heading for a competition where they’re to regain the crown.
How can the world not seem to be having its back against Australia?
Now, having said that what also makes sense is to consider that the current lineup they’re playing in the one-day series isn’t really Australia’s A-team.
It’s not the ensemble they’d like to field in a game, especially with injuries and lacklustre form of prominent batters having only exacerbated their worries.
You know you’re already a weakling when someone like Steven Smith, a World Cup winner in 2015, makes a nought and a lukewarm 41 off 60.
You know a wicketless Stoinis in the very game where he made 29 from the bat is playing far from his potential.
Furthermore, one’s also aware that resting Starc with the idea of not exposing him to the risk of a last-minute gaffe only means that the opposition will have a free run.
Are Australia missing Tim David now? Is Green, due to feature in his maiden World Cup campaign, got that much-needed big-stage experience to deliver the goods? Things they’ve executed poorly notwithstanding, such as Abbott and Green faltering in execution with the ball, it would only be a fool’s errand to cast doubts about the Aussies’ abilities.
That’s especially when it comes to bouncing back. Let’s take for context a solitary example, albeit from the previous edition’s World Cup game.
The Australians, who had opened their campaign against the West Indies, had very nearly lost the match in 2019 when, thanks to a Cottrell, Thomas, Russell and Brathwaite-fuelled disruption, the five-time World Cup winners found themselves reeling at 79-5.
Australia have a tendency to bounce back on big occasions [X.com]
How they came back after what was pretty much a botched up batting operation against the Windies was partly down to a Nathan-Coulter Nile special, the lanky all-rounder making a definitive 92 and partly down to the usual West Indian way of being laggard despite having begun strongly.
What followed, of course, was a victory for the then Finch-led side, even if by a margin as scant as 15 runs.
But this bouncing back despite having their backs against the wall was reminiscent of the current situation they find themselves in, where, once again, thanks to India going on an all-out attack, Australia aren’t comfortable. Not one bit.
But then, how often have we heard that- a cornered tiger is a more dangerous one in every aspect imaginable?
Luckily for us, this is still a kangaroo, even if common sense dictates that the Marsupial can be quite an unpredictable force of nature to deal with, especially away from its home territory.
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