Why India won at Mohali?.........

Why India won at Mohali?.........

Now that India has drubbed the Australians at Mohali by 320 runs, seeds of doubts will slowly start growing in the Aussie camp about whether they really can pull off a win in the series.

Cricket enthusiasts and pundits will now get their pens out to predict the outcome of this series as well as start wondering about a decline of Aussie supremacy.

I am an avid enthusiast of the wonderful game of cricket, and although i can never be a pundit, i would like to list down the reasons WHY India won the Mohali test, rather than HOW.

Agreed that Australia are hampered by their weakest bowling attack in 15 years, but this was the attack that beat India last January,down under.So no sympathies on that count.

So WHY India won the Mohali test.....??

Factors:

1.Sourav Ganguly: Amidst all the celebrations of Sachin Tendulkar's rise to the top of run scorers list, this man quietly churned up runs at the other end.Yes, i am a die hard Sourav fan. But i would definitely have written about his role, even if i was his biggest critic.

At 160 for 4, and only Dhoni to come in next, in walked dada and took India past 300, with his favorite "Chhoto Babu".Imagine India getting bowled out on day 1, and there would have ended India's chances in the match.Again when Dhoni launched a brutal assault on aussie bowlers, he was the ROCK at the other end, with stoic determination and purpose.

He wanted to make sure, he demolishes the aussies and his critics in his farewell series, and this under all sorts of pressure.Salutations PRINCE OF KOLKATA


2.Mahendra Singh Dhoni: I could not agree more with Gaurav Kalra of CNN-IBN,when he said Dhoni was destiny's child.But only luck does not help.
Lets have a look at what Dhoni did right in the test match,for he hardly did anything wrong!!!

• He won the toss at first place and batted first

• Launched a murderous assault on the already wearing Aussie bowling, right from ball no.1

• Made big statements at critical moments like:

1. Got to his fifty after lunch on day 2,with a six in the 1st over.
2. Promoted himself to no.3 in the 2nd innings to up the ante
3. When India was 499 ahead, hit another six to take the lead past 500, to dent the Aussies psychologically
   

• As a captain:

Innovative fielding placements :
*A very fine leg slip for Simon Katich who likes flicking off the leg stump

*Different fielders at a single fielding position
Eg:At times there was Tendulkar at mid-on,suddenly we found Ganguly there, even Gambhir after few overs. Sachin also fielded at point,where he took that brilliant catch, Sehwag fielded at covers This was mainly setup for different batsmen,who are stronger in different areas of the filed.This was missing in the Bangalore test match.

*Bowling changes at regular intervals, at Bangalore same bowler bowled very long spells

*When a bowler got hit, immediately would run up to the bowler for a talk
Eg:Amit Mishra ,when he was hit by Watson for a six in the first innings

• One instance where, Dhoni asked harbhajan to speak to Mishra when haddin and clarke were attacking the leg spinner in the 2nd innings.

• Earlier Indian captains would have brought on Mishra,who picked 5 wickets in the 1st innings,to bowl when openers counter attacked in the chase of 516.Rather he brought Harbhajan on.
  

• Mishra was not over-bowled in the 2nd innings,for which the Aussies would have had their plans.Hence he was canny with his decisions.
  

• And at the post match presentation,he felt bad for Sehwag and Laxman to have got out unluckily in the 1st innings.And said had that not happened India would have scored 600 runs.What confidence!!!!
  

3. Gautam Gambhir: This man has sealed India's opening batting problems at least for a year,hopefully with Sehwag they can surpass Hayden-Langer.The most improved Indian batsman in 2008 was Gambhir and at Mohali he exorcised all the ghosts regarding his temperament.

4. Amit Mishra: This man flighted the red cherry was spectacular ease and guile.He could well be Anil Kumble's successor for years to come.

5. Australia's confused tactics:Ponting spoke of India playing from the old school of cricket and Oz playing the new brand.Well, India scored runs at a faster pace than Australia in the 2 matches and also had attacking fields for their bowlers,while Aussies went back to 2004 tactics and failed.

6. Victory in mind games: Zaheer Khan said before the game that at Bangalore,Australia were at their defensive best and also challenged their ability to pick wickets.Ponting got back at Zaheer telling he had a very rare good game. Both India and Zaheer set things right at Mohali.

So its time for the caravan to move to India's (and Kumble's) fortress- Delhi,where India have won 7 test matches in a row.However India must be aware that they themselves beat Australia at their fortress-Perth-earlier this year, hence anything can happen.
For me, if Kumble is fit he walks in to replace Amit Mishra. Only if he is 100 percent fit.Else the same team plays at Feroze Shah Kotla.

Wish India dont leave it until Nagpur,where they last lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy in 2004 and seal the issue at Delhi,and claim the series,at the same venue where they won the 1st ever Border-Gacvskar trophy in 1996.

The Battle of the Best………

Prologue (Which was actually not a part of this blog):

This blog of mine comes at the end of the 1^st test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008, which is too late by my standards.

Two reasons:

• I was contemplating over whether to write a blog (very long one, to be split in parts) on Sourav Ganguly before or after the series, I decided on the latter.

• I depended on the internet connection of my office to upload it on the day before the series, but found that www.blogger.com was blocked on that day!!! HUH!!!

Here’s a look back at the amazing rivalry with some memorable pictures…

History:

India - Australia rivalry in test cricket is now THE watched, THE most enthralling, and THE most promising contest (not to forget about THE Financial aspect) in international cricket. As a young cricket follower in the 1990’s I grew up looking up to India-Pakistan contests as the “Mother of all battles”. As time grew by, it was India v Australia that took center stage.

1996:

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy was launched in 1996, with India winning the one-off test, enabled by a Nayan Mongia Century.

1998:

Next stop was supposed to be Australia , however it was in 1998 that Aussies revisited India. This series is remembered only for one man-Sachin Tendulkar. After getting caught off Shane Warne at 1^st slip by Mark Taylor for 4 at Chennai,and sending Warne berserk, Sachin went on to flay the aussie attack all throughout the series with aplomb. Not to forget the permanent scars he created in Warne’s minds…

1999-2000:

India next had a forgettable 1999-2000 tour of Australia, getting whitewashed 3-0. Only stand out points for the tourists were Sachin’s Melbourne hundred and VVS Laxman’s 167 at Sydney, the latter being the sign of things to come in future….

2001:

Then came the biggest of all series in 2001,which included the best test match I ever saw-at Kolkata…..Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist pulled the Mumbai test away from India with a sensational counter attack and India pulled off a thriller from the brink of losing hopelessly, thanks to career defining innings from VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. Sachin Tendulkar took the baton at Chennai, Harbhajan Singh ran through the Aussies and fittingly hit the winning runs, to clinch a cliffhanger. Lots and lots can be written on this series….Probably I shall write about this to commemorate the completion of 10 years on March 22, 2011.

2003-2004:

The 2003-04 series down under began with predictions of India losing 4-0, and ended up with India dominating, yet drawing the series 1-1.Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar –all plundered the Aussie attack and Anil Kumble almost single handedly won the series , but for a farewell innings from Steve Waugh.

2004:

The Aussies came to India in 2004, completely ready with a plan. India were clearly under prepared, with Sachin Injured, yet if not for a rain wash out on the 5^th day at Chennai, the series would have been drawn 2-2.However, all credit to the Aussies for out-witting India and winning after 35 years on Indian soil.

2007-08:

The recent 2007-08 series was the most intriguing of them all both on and off the field, culminating in the retirement of the great Adam Gilchrist. India started badly at Melbourne, Aussies retained the trophy after a non-deserving win at Sydney(For reasons everyone knows), India won at Perth for the first time and Aussies saved themselves some blushes with slow, defensive un-Aussie cricket at Adelaide.

Current Series-2008:

Indian Fab-Five are under pressure to deliver one last time and have the last hurrah, Australia are weakened by retirements of greats, yet extremely formidable and hence this series is definitely the end of an era of a fantastic decade of India-Australia rivalry. Ironically, it also is the end of the career of India’s finest captain ever, Sourav Ganguly, for he was the one who orchestrated the beginning of this rivalry.

Predictions:

To speak the truth, I made a prediction 3 days before the series began, to one of my best buddies, Prashanth Salian, who is an avid non-supporter of everything that I support.

My Predictions were:

• Ponting, Hussey and Katich will be the key players for Australia…Hayden and Clarke will fail
• Sourav Ganguly will score at least one hundred in the series, and it will be at Nagpur
• Australia will not win a single test in the series.

To add these I will add few more:

• India winning the series will entirely depend on the batsmen. Because this series will be played on dead slow wickets (exception being Delhi) and hence the India need to out-bat Australia and score quickly. The Fab-Four(rather Fab-Five) know this and will go all out to prove critics wrong!!!

• The openers-Sehwag and Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and the fast bowlers will be the stars for India (Yes … Dravid, Laxman and Sourav, will play their roles neatly though)

• No team has kept the Border-Gavaskar trophy with them for more than two consecutive series, hence India will win this test series

Final statement: India will win the series 2-0, with draws at Bangalore and Nagpur.