Guts and Glory

The last few bilateral series have been a big shot in the arm for the future of Test Cricket. While people embraced the 'new kid on the block' (namely T20), there were widespread apprehensions on the future of 'real' cricket - the 5 day Test match. I am sure the series between India-Australia and then South Africa - Australia would have settled the debate at least for some time to come. In fact, even the India - England series was no way a dull one though the credit for that should go to England. They put a vastly improved show after their mauling at hands of an Indian First Class team without any international player in their lineup.

I am a diehard supporter of Indian cricket team, specially its current avatar which I believe could very well be the best Indian lineup since Kapil's devils. But here I would like to talk more about the South Africa - Australia 3 test matches series. There are two key things that I would like to highlight from the series which I believe are a long wanted watershed for International cricket.

First and foremost, the SA-Aus & the Ind-Aus series represent the emergence of a new world order in Cricket. Like a true democracy is incomplete without a competent opposition, a Sport needs worthy competitors on the field for the game to be effective and entertaining. Call it the atomic clock precision & efficiency of the Aussie cricket setup or the despicable decline of the game worldwide, on-field cricket had become a dictatorship of the Aussies. At last, going by the last two series that the Aussies have played, and lost, one can "hope" for a cricket order where the top 3 teams are equally matched and beat each other with more regularity. I say "hope" because I believe we need more evidence to believe that India & SA can give the same fight to Australia on a consistent basis. Quite fittingly, the Aussies won the last match of the series which though inconsequential to the series result, kept them on top as the No. 1 Test team in ICC rankings. What the Australian team has achieved in the last decade is truly remarkable, and even a diehard Indian fan like me would admit that the Indians still have a way to go to match the Aussies in all departments of the game, and match them consistently. Doing well in the upcoming New Zealand tour would be a good step forward... amen!

Secondly, the Aus-SA series brought to fore more than a few instances of amazing individual brilliance. In cricket, for that matter any team sport, more often than not the complete team has to work as a unit to be successful. Individual brilliance may get you a good result here and there but not on a consistent basis. The Fab 5 (Sachin, Rahul, Sourav, VVS & Anil) in the Indian cricket team are a prime example of this; how else can one explain that a team with such talent has been a proverbial underachiever in the last two decades (Though there have been signs of change lately... ahaan the Obama effect maybe :) ). Coming back to the Aus-SA series, the series would be remembered for how single-individuals stretched to the limit in the collective-team pursuit of success and glory. No offense to Aussies, but I am tempted to say that there were more of such individuals in the SA camp, and hence the result. The SA captain stands out even among those brilliant individuals for his daring-aspirations, unfazed-determination, sheer-courage and awe-inspiring-inspiration. I would say he single handedly plucked the 'chokers' tag from the back of SA team and threw it down under.

I welcome the winds of change and fervently pray for Dhoni and the boys to take more than a leaf from the South African's book and conquer the final frontier in NZ. By no measure it is going to be easy - it will be cold, hostile and nerve wrecking; but that might just be the right tonic for the Boys in Blue, and we might just have the honor of seeing another set of jaw dropping individual brilliances. The stage is set - pain heals, chicks dig scars, GLORY lasts forever!!