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Loading ...JII:End of 1'st day, honours even.Why do I get the feeling you're south indian??I mean that in a nice way though.
Alex Try:
Victory for australia??Did that thought come to you in a sober state.Yes,India currently rely heavily on its opening duo.But Sachin has never failed against aus,neither has Laxman.India's batsman failed against Mendis & Murali.Every1 else would too.Mathew Hayden & the Anglo-Indian guy, Stuart Clark represent the biggest hurdles for India.Lee isn't that quick nowadays & tends to bore batsman out with an 8th stump line outswing strategy.India=Low bounce except mohali,punjab.Hence,that makes him not a huge threat.Clark with his height & natural bounce is difficult on uneven surfaces where the ball can shoot through.
Also,Indo-Aus rivalry is hyped so much purely because of the cricket on offer & the recent ego battles.Fans & the players get more charged playing west-punjab,ie. Pakistan.But we play them so often that its now boring.
Forget the scoreline
By Alex Try 2 years ago, mid-October Add your comment below
India versus Australia can no longer be spoken of as a burgeoning rivalry: the history, the animosities, the personalities involved – this is one of the great cricketing contests of modern times.
Forget balanced bowling attacks, or whether to pick White or Krejza. Forget the swansong of the old guard. These are only topical subtexts flowing alongside a greater narrative: a story that can be traced through Sachin Tendulkar’s mastering of Shane Warne, VVS Laxman’s 281 and Australia’s eventual storming of Nagpur back in 2004.
Each new chapter has proved to be as compelling as the last. This is a narrative of such glorious ebb and flow that every cricket fan will be glued to his television or his computer over the coming weeks to be a part of the ensuing drama. India and Australia have yet to disappoint us in these duels.
As George Orwell famously wrote in 1945: sport, as we know it, “is war minus the shooting”. When England meet Germany or India play Pakistan there is so much more to the game than is being played out on the pitch. Sport bears the incredible burden of history. This is what makes such games and series so fascinating to the outsider, and so important to the partisan fan.
India and Australia may not have faced each other down the barrel of a gun, but their recent cricketing battles – both on and off the pitch – mean history is as overt and consequential in this series as in any other between rival nations. When the coin is finally tossed in Bangalore tomorrow the collective intake of breath across the sub-continent will be powerful enough to suck up the Bay of Bengal. Such feelings are the foundations stones upon which this series stands, and which makes it so iconic.
As to the cricket itself, I think India’s chances are over-rated and that Australia will surprise those who describe their bowling attack as weak and their batting as undercooked.
Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Shane Watson all have the control needed for success in India, and it isn’t often that Australia’s batsman fail to perform. Simon Katich, for one, has been Bradman-esque in state cricket for the last year or so. Their spinners look poor, but it was their pace attack that won the series in 2004. I also remember the last time the Aussies chances were played down. They replied to the tune of 5-0.
For India, barring Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, their batsmen have been poor in recent times. Lee’s pace, like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel’s for South Africa recently, will unsettle them. Even if MS Dhoni, for example, were to score a brilliant hundred tomorrow, the focus will still be on Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to prove their doubters wrong. This will surely eat away at the team.
I predict a victory for Australia, but this is a series which is about so much more than the eventual scoreline.
Alex Try will be (hopefully) blogging his views of India’s series against Australia for The Corridor
Tags: australia in india, george orwell, india |
4 Responses to “Forget the scoreline”
October 9th, 2008 at 7.51 am
October 9th, 2008 at 7.56 am
Coming to todays play:Umpires at it again-Hayden & Ponting wrongly given out & Katich & Ponting surviving what were clearly LBW & caught & bowled off kumble.Somewhat even.Why can't we have the referral system??It solved more problems than it created & showed up some show-pony umpires.Why wait till next year,if you want to go ahead with it.
Ponting scores a well-deserved & hard working 100.Rides the spin beautifully.Must have practised hard.Should send a thanq note to lalit modi if not done already.Its not an easy shot,the whip to backward squareleg.But if he can make runs ,so can india's unfit & flat-footed middle order.
Second lastly,this is not england they're playing against .Its india.Last time england beat india home or away was 13 years ago.So take it easy with the 5-0 comparison.
Lastly,I think every1 should stand up & applaud ,wherever you are for the poor bengali guys from bangladesh who've thrashed newzealand in an ODI at home.I thought they'd improved hugely last time they played india & instantly knew that NZ,ENG,ZIM,WIN esp. would lose the odd match consistently in BAN.Well done bengalis.
October 9th, 2008 at 6.49 am
End of Day 1. Aus have their noses in front.
October 9th, 2008 at 9.50 am
You guessed right:-)
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