Pre-Preview: Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India, 2008!

So, it’s that time of the year! A time when Test cricket, surely, will be played hard but then you could never really guarantee as to whether it would be played fair. That’s thanks to the enormous amount of ill-will that was generated between the two cricketing teams in question. Australia and India will lock horns again in a few weeks from now and like a lot of pundits have already stated, I too simply cannot wait for the action to begin.

Back in 2001, Steve Waugh’s side had arrived in India on an all-time high and the skipper himself had declared that conquering India in India would be akin to have captured ‘The Final Frontier’. Till mid-way through the series, things seem to have gone as per the script; but then what happened thereafter would be marveled by VVS himself a few years down the line when he watches those videos from the comfort of his living room! Point is, the series ended up being closely fought though it wasn’t meant to go that way.

Despite that euphoria, few gave the Indians a chance when they toured down under in late 2003. After all, our record out there was perhaps shambolic to say the least and India’s best overseas batsman since ’02 had a less-than-impressive record in that country. However, India produced some of the best Test cricket it’s ever played and in the end the series was drawn 1-1. Infact, it had come precariously close to spoiling Steve Waugh’s farewell Test series and only some brave batting from the 168-test-veteran himself ensured that his final Test in front a packed home crowd didn’t end up on a losing note for his team. Once again, things not following the script.

Fast forward again to their next chapter in the rivalry and this time around too, few events went as planned. Despite the drop in form of their skipper, Saurav Ganguly and murmurs floating around as to how much of a liability he’d become in the line-up, Indians on the back of their impressive showing in the earlier two series were expected to atleast compete well with the visitors. This time around though, the Aussies were determined to emulate Bill Lawry’s team of 1969 [the last Australian team to have triumphed in India] and the series despite all the controversies surrounding the final Mumbai Test was pretty one-sided. Australia had finally beaten India in India and the script had once again gone for a toss.

3 years down the line when these two sides met, much had changed. Saurav Ganguly wasn’t the captain anymore, and well, it wasn’t even Dravid at the helm of affairs. Kumble, many felt, was a forced option and moreover, the team was coach-less! The Australians on the other hand, despite the absence of their two main bowling legends were expected to be a force on home territory. Also, this time around, it was ensured that the Indians had to play at Perth, a venue which many felt Indians were lucky to not have played on during their previous visit. What happened eventually during those dramatic 2 odd months must be utterly fresh in everyone’s mind and as that glorious victory in Perth of all venues would signify, the script that the pundits had predicted had for the 4th time in a row failed to follow the given course.

Now as these two cricketing powerhouses meet, for the 5th time in close to 8 years, is it easy to predict the outcome? Can it be a cakewalk for either side, for that matter? Can Kumble and Co. reclaim the BG trophy or will Punter be able to register his 1st win in India as captain and win the series as well? The kind of answers that some of these questions can generate makes me feel that the upcoming series could end up being one of the most closely fought and it would be naïve to predict the outcome, one way or the other!

Reasons being; for once, I feel, this time around the two sides that will enter the fray would both be battling their own kind of demons. Australia will finally realize what it means to field a XI [against a quality opposition] that’s not just minus Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne but also does not feature Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist and even an Andrew Symonds. The Queenslander’s skill against playing quality spin bowling would be missed for sure and when you consider that their skipper himself has scored next to nothing in India thus far, it’d mean that their task is going to be anything but easy. The home team on the other hand has been playing with fire and their insistence on persisting with their Famous Four has gone on for far too long. And even as it looks like at least one of those four might have played his last Test, the poor form of Sachin and Dravid might come to haunt them in this all-important series. One of the easiest ways to defeat touring teams in India is to bat 1st, pile on the runs and then let the spinners take control of the game. But when the backbone of our batting, i.e the middle order looks as frail as it is now, it can only add to your worries! Not to forget, the captain himself hasn’t done too much to write home about in his last two series and his form is another cause for concern.

All in all, both the teams seem to have their share of headaches to ponder on and I personally think it would take a real brave man to punt his money on either powerhouse.

To cut a long story short, don’t write a script. You wouldn’t want to go wrong for a 5th straight time, would you?