The Hindu : Sport : Australians relish pressure

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Sunday, Oct 14, 2007
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Australians relish pressure

The sub-continent no longer gives visiting teams the shivers, writes Steve Waugh

— PHOTO: AFP

TIME TO GET GOING: It seems Rahul Dravid is going through an adjustment phase and needs a few games to get used to the new leadership and the subsequent changes.

Going by the evidence of the game on Thursday, it was clear that one side wilted in the heat of battle while the other enjoyed it and came away with a convincing win. Over the last decade, it has been proved time and again that the Australians enjoy the big stage, and actually seem to want and embrace a pressure situation. Most other sides dread a pressure cooker game and often this causes them to falter. That is exactly what happened to India in Vadodara.

Missing a great chance

When the Indians capitulate, they do a really good job of it. Somehow there is not a single player who manages to stop the bleeding with some rearguard action. The hosts would know that they lost a great opportunity to go to Nagpur with the score line reading 2-2.

They won an important toss and had quality spinners to exploit the pitch when the Australians were chasing. Sadly, they were not ready for the match-winning bowling of the Australian quickies.

Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were relentless in their aggression and once they got a sniff of trouble in the Indian batting, they just did not provide them the opportunity to recover. While Australia looked aggressive from the start, the Indian openers quite clearly were not ready to get going in the first over itself.

Sachin Tendulkar refused a single that was there, and Sourav Ganguly showed no desperation to get back to the crease.

True the latter was right in wanting that run, but when he knew he had to get back he should have dived back into the crease. This lack of intensity and desperation has often made India under-perform, like they did in Vadodara.

Dravid looks flat

Rahul Dravid also had little impact on Thursday’s game, and he does look a little flat out in the middle. I am still surprised at his decision to relinquish captaincy, particularly since he deserved it and was getting reasonably good results. I have not spoken to him and cannot understand the issues — personal or professional — that made him take such a decision.

Right now, he seems to be taking a little time to come to terms with the full import of that decision. I have not been in that situation, but it would be difficult to be part of a dressing room where you called the shots till just a month ago.

Dravid is a top-quality batsman, and players of his calibre can never ever be written off.

Daunting task

The Indian team might find it very difficult to come back after such a thrashing. M.S. Dhoni did try something different by making Harbhajan Singh bowl with the new ball, but the inept performance of the batsmen made it too easy for the Australians.

The Indians have two more games to redeem themselves, but they have wilted under pressure too many times in this series for anybody to expect a different result in the last two games.

The sub-continent no longer gives visiting teams the shivers. This has been proved by the performances of Australia, England and South Africa in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, respectively.

In fact, most players prefer away tours now because it means less expectation and less media scrutiny. Playing conditions are getting more and more similar across the world, thereby negating the home advantage completely.

Gameplan

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