India in Australia- the build up series

This is the first episode in the build up series. In the build up series, I will bring you interesting information on the mega series before the first test comes up. Keep visiting.

Whenever India and Australia play, they play quality cricket. I agree with Gilchrist that India vs Australia is the latest and the most interesting rivalry in Cricket today. In Australia’s rule over world cricket, India has been one team to give them the toughest resistance. Be it the amazing comeback in the Kolkata test following a series of world record making Australian victories (13) or the series draw four years ago on the Australian soil, India have given Australia the toughest time in recent past. Australia have dominated most of these encounters alright, but India has been a tougher opponent for them compared to other teams.

Many things have changed in the last four years. Neither team is the same now. Australia does not have Warne and McGrath anymore. But I think Indians will be more hurt by Warne’s absence than the Australians. Warne was a great spinner…the greatest ever perhaps…but the Indians were never bothered by him. The likes of Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly have played him comfortably and have milked him for runs on many occasions. However McGrath did trouble the Indians many times. Though the biggies are gone, the new generation of cricketers from Australia is good.

India on the other hand have a big problem in the pace bowling department. In the last few years India searched and found some good pacers but then lost them to injury. Ashish Nehra and Balaji are examples. They became stars over night with outstanding performances and then went into oblivion following career threatening injuries. The search for the right fast bowler is still on and India’s best one right now is Zaheer Khan. His performance on the unfamiliar English turf was outstanding and therefore, we would naturally expect him to do well in Australia.

Irfan Pathan’s career has been a roller coaster ride. His bat has been accumulating runs and the ball has stopped doing what he was known for. But we saw his old touch in spells in the last contest against Pakistan. Unfortunately for him the pitches were too flat for a bowler to come back to form. But he will get much better tracks in Australia.

But India’s main weapon would be the captain himself. Anil Kumble is in prime form. We know that from his success on the dead tracks against Pakistan where almost every other bowler suffered. The Australians might find his quick turners too hot to handle.

However, Indian’s strength is the batting lineup. It’s a dream line up filled with batsmen of extra ordinary caliber, unbelievable achievements and have performed very well against Australia in the past. The Australian think tank would be particularly worried about Tendulkar and Laxman….particularly given that these two seemed to be in good touch lately.

India have their chances against Australia and they have to work really hard to beat the Kangaroos in their own backyard. The verbal war has already started from both sides with Tait challenging the Indians to his pace and Harbhajan pointing a finger at the lack of any good spinners in the Australian side. But the real war will soon start and we will see soon if the Indians can get anywhere close to a victory against Australia in Australia.

In the build up series, I will bring you interesting information on the mega series before the first test comes up. Keep visiting.