The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Australia conquers the `Final Frontier'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 30, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Australia conquers the `Final Frontier'

By Sanjay Rajan

A MOMENT LOADED WITH MEANING: The Australians celebrate after ensuring their first series win in India in 35 years. - Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NAGPUR, OCT. 29. What Steve Waugh had longed for and Ricky Ponting had dreamt of, Adam Gilchrist achieved. Australia captured its first Test series in India in 35 years with a resounding 342-run victory on the fourth day of the third Test match at the VCA Stadium here on Friday.

Even as appointed captain Ponting - who is expected to recover completely from his thumb injury in time for the final Test, beginning in Mumbai on November 3 - watched from the dressing room, Gilchrist, the stand-in skipper, marshalled his resources astutely to blow away the Indian second innings for 200 runs in under two sessions and give Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series for the TVS Cup Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

It was the host's highest margin of defeat in terms of runs. The loss by 329 runs at the hands of South Africa in Kolkata in 1996 was the earlier record, dubious though it is. And the last time India lost a Test series at home was to South Africa in 2000.

When Damien Martyn was adjudged the Man of the Match for his stupendous batting display - he missed a second century in the match by three runs today, which would have meant a third on the trot - one was inclined to recall Australia's 2001 campaign when the Western Australian did not get to play in a Test.

Gilchrist, got his three-man medium-pace attack of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz to concentrate on testing the batsmen's technique and patience. On a pitch that was deteriorating progressively, the chances of the host achieving 543 for victory in five sessions were always remote.

The fact is India was out-batted, and Australia's overnight pair of Martyn and the exceptionally talented Michael Clarke took the match away completely from India.

Martyn and Clarke, magnificent players of spin, countered left-armer Murali Kartik and leg-spinner Anil Kumble with absolute ease. The two created spaces with such comfort that it left India's stand-in skipper, Rahul Dravid, bewildered.

The two Australians did not play big shots to begin with. It was done adroitly with clever placements. It turned out to be the calm before the storm.

Clarke (10 overnight), like Martyn, possesses a variable technique. He is also blessed with astonishing footwork. Clarke used short strides and sent left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan crashing to the straight fence. The two put on 77 runs in the first hour. The other medium-pacer, Ajit Agarkar, went for 21 runs - 14 of them to Clarke - in one over. Nobody was spared.

Sehwag's stand

With the Indian batting crumbling to 29 for four and 37 for five it was the last thing one expected in a crunch game. It would have looked far worse but for the 65-run stand for the fifth wicket between Virender Sehwag (58) and the pugnacious Parthiv Patel (32) and the 52-run partnership between the last-wicket pair of Ajit Agarkar (44 not out) and Zaheer Khan (25).

The capitulation was certainly not due to a lack of ability. It was the absence of application and confidence against a medium-pace attack which gave nothing away. The attitude left a lot to be desired.

Sehwag had a reprieve early on, but applied himself hard thereafter. Chopra was bowled through the `gate' by Gillespie, who took four wickets in the second innings for a match-haul of nine for 80. Dravid was also bowled by Gillespie through the `gate'. Tendulkar became McGrath's 450th victim. The Mumbaikar was done in by the slow bounce as the ball stood up and the batsman pushed at it to be caught at second gully, placed wide.

The lower order put up a fight. But with the top-order dismissed for next to nothing, the bottom half was unable to do much. The fallibility of the top order has been the weakness of the Indian team in the series — precisely why it lost its grip over the trophy.

Meticulous planning

"I have captained in a few Tests, but don't consider myself a captain in the real sense. A Test captain is someone who has led for at least a year. For us, Ricky Ponting will be the guy and I am sure he would have accomplished what I have done because it's a team thing. But I will enjoy this and carry it with me for a long time," said Gilchrist.

He attributed the triumph to meticulous planning and hard teamwork.

On the difference between the Australian teams of 2001 and 2004, he said, "It's difficult to get the same bunch of players who had taken their foot off the gas a little bit. We were an attacking side then, had won 16 Tests in a row and didn't know much else other than winning."

About the sweet taste of success, he said, "It's a wonderfully thrilling experience. I've got to give credit to all the players, I have used everyone's knowledge, even their shoulders at times to lean on and have a chat to... even the support staff. We have won the series and I cannot ask of anything more of my players and my support staff and could not have hoped for anything such as winning the series after three Tests."

Asked if he would rate this as being the team's best series win ever, he said, "I've been saying from the start to not build this up too much. In seven months time we will be in England for the Ashes and then questions will be asked about how important that series is. They are all important. Now, we can put a tick in the box next to India... away."

"It's not like we have never achieved wins here. Australian teams have won here before. Hopefully, Australian teams will continue to win here with the knowledge, experience and the belief with which we played cricket here. This team has achieved a lot and this is another perfect milestone."

On his team adapting well to conditions, he said, "We have been to Sri Lanka and dominated in conditions we have never come across. So, we are trying to be versatile. The Indian team did so well in Australia last summer, but I didn't think those were traditional Australian conditions - the wickets were slow, a lot lower."

India's stand-in captain Rahul Dravid said his side was out-played in Bangalore and Nagpur. "We did not bat as well as we would have liked. If you seen the tours where we've done well and succeeded, it has generally been when we've been able to put good scores on the board. In this series our batsmen did not make the required runs and that put a lot of pressure on us."

About the pitch he said, "This wicket probably suited the Australians more than us. There's no doubt about that. But they also adapted much better to the conditions than we did. It was an interesting surface to see in India. It'll be really nice to see these kinds of pitches in domestic cricket, under-19 cricket and other age-group cricket.

"The season is just beginning in India and I'd like to see if groundsmen across the country take interest in preparing pitches like this one. If they can do that, consistently, in every single game in domestic cricket over the next 2-3 years, it will be good.

"To have a wicket like this straightaway in a Test match (it's a good surface), you hope, in the larger picture, that as much care is taken in domestic cricket. But then, we lost to the best team."

Speaking about the difference between last winter's tour of Australia and now, Dravid said, "The return of bowlers of the calibre of McGrath and Warne has certainly made a difference. They've had quite a bit of experience in these conditions. A lot of their players from their core group since 1996 have visited the sub-continent, and they have planned much better and this had made a difference."

On the team's collective batting failure, he said, "People go through these phases and unfortunately for us we've gone through one together. But, equal credit to the Australians, they bowled really well and kept us under pressure." The Indian team for the final Test will be selected on Saturday.

Meanwhile the touring party's meia manager Jonathan Rose said, "Darren Lehmann;s fitness will be assessed in Mumbai. Brad Hodge has been asked to stay till then.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport