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.