I never congratulate Australia for winning, so it seems odd to do it for India. They beat Australia, which should be the aim of any team playing a test. They trained hard, the conditions helped, the injury to Hayden helped, and they out played Australia, this lead to a test win.
In order for India to become a great test nation they should have expected to win this test. Not because their fans expected to, but because they put in the hard yards, are a talented group of players and because they should believe in themselves.
India has the best record against Australia of any country over the last 15 years. and they were still 2 nil down against this new look, obviously more frail Australian side. This is the side that almost lost a test against one player (the king kumar) in Hobart, only a few months ago.
They kept out Clark and Lee as best they could. They worked over Hussey and Ponting pretty well, the pitch suited them more than it did Australia and they found out Australia’s dirty little secret, they aint as good as they used to be.
India deserved to win the test, but they must remember all they have done is won one test.
England are still paying for thinking all their hard work in beating the Aussies was enough. Sure a bunch of them got (practically) knighted, and Freddy is still drunk, but at the end of the day a win in one series is just a win in one series.
India haven’t done that. They have climbed a huge mountain in beating Australia at the waca, but when they got to the top of the mountain, guess what they saw, higher peaks.
England saw that, and thought bollocks to that, lets go get a beer.
The Indian side is very well suited to beating Australia. Swing bowling and a formidable batting line up is what England used. They are hungry and mostly in good form. They have good balance and used sound plans to bottle up Australia's gun batsmen.
But Adelaide is a different fish of kettle.
The ball may not swing, the Indian batsman may not be able to hold Lee and Clark out, and Hayden might come back.
Plus the fact that pretty much since India drew in Australia 4 years ago, every time Australia has lost, they have played their best cricket. Look at their record after the 2005 ashes, or their form at the word cup after losing to England and New Zealand.
Then what, a score line of 3-1 and the world seems a dark place again.
India must look at this win for what it is, a small step in the right direction, but many an explorer has fallen off a mountain.
Even Sober.
And for all the other test nations that thought this win means you will knock off Australia, remember these two details. The last time India toured they drew with Australia, and yet Australia has lost only one series since then. The last time Australia lost a test was in 2005, and that got them so angry they went on a war path demoloshing all teams in their wake, and inspiriing this 16 test run.
Are they as good as they used to be, ofcourse not, are they still good, yup.www.cricketwithballs.com "the hooking & pulling specialists"
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