The Victory at Brisbane reveals dauntless courage and speaks volume of the character Indian boys have exhibited over last few months in Australia. The away tours had always been tough nut to crack for any cricketing side of the world and so was it for Indians. The corona virus pandemic had its mental toll on the players due to stringent protocol of bio bubble. The team was adherent to the rules, breach of which could have put lives on line.The players went Physically fragile too, playing IPL, which was spread over a month.The team had to face Australia in their backyard after a week. The Australian media, former players along with cricket experts was back to work as twelfth man of the team. They began praising heaps and bounds about the strength of the side after inclusion of Steve Smith and David Warner who were unavailable in last series between the two arch rivals of modern day cricket.
The predictions were adversary to India signifying Australians as favourite on their turf. The advent of Marnus was another factor adding to their robust rationale.India, on the other side, was to miss the likes of Rohit Sharma who has been sharpest arsenal in limited over format of the game and his fitness issue came surrounded with huge controversy and rumors of rift between senior players arose. The exclusion of Surya Kumar Yadav who had loads of runs raised questions on the management of the side. They initiated one day Internationals with lot of expectations behind them because of talents players have showcased in biggest league of the Cricket. India began series with several individual contributions by middle order. Those,however, overshadowed by the authoritative hundreds of Australian top order and India kept on lossing its hold onto series in subsequent matches with sole victory coming in the last game. They moved to shortest format in no time and played to their potential, turning around the table with emphatic series win though it didn’t hold much importance in context of the tour.
The whole eye and gossip in cricket fraternity was centered around purest format which was long awaited and due to define the series and success on the trip. To begin in oval was most apt and felicitous for Indians and achievement in past were encouraging. In spite of the favourable facts, the test resulted into a nightmare as batsman crumbled down in a bizarre fashion and failed miserably after taking lead in first part of the game. The aussies continued its winning streak with the Pink ball.The failure of India under Kohli raised many eyebrows and anticipation seemed to be turning into reality. The team was on its knee and best batsman of the lot was to leave the dressing room. The Paternity leave of Skipper after Adelaide test became talk of the town and chances of India winning series was minimal in his absence. The downtrodden team was handed over to Rahane who has been underperforming and playing to cement his position.
Moreover, there were lot of conundrum to address after pitiable performance with bat for Indians. The captain calmly rose to the occasion and grabbed the opportunity with both hands and led India to a historic win at Melbourne in Boxing day Test. The comeback left Australians gobsmaked and infused new vigour in Visitors. The injuries, instead, remained a cause of concern in the dugout with Umesh Yadav being latest addition. The SCG became testimony of several forced inclusion in order to park a more balanced unit. The fresh blood in the person of Subhman Gill and Siraj who had been consistent performer in domestic circuit and first class cricket was given a run. The bowling, however, became rookie and Bumrah was only frontline pace bowler left in squad. Despite all the odds, the team fought bravely and put an exemplary performance. The display of resilience and Perseverance on the last day when team was on the brink of loss brought out the beauty of the Game and India registered a victorious draw sending in a strong message for the Coach Langer and Captain Paine. The press conference followed by match introduced softer side of the Tim, apologizing to Ashwin and others for sledging, looked quite non- Australians in nature as they are conceived to play hard. It was unprecedented and seemed to be another brain fade moment for them.
The racial abuse inflicted on Indian players garnered criticism on the part of local crowd. Meanwhile; India, booming with confidence after saving the test where defeat was almost inevitable, succumbed to more injuries and their match winners were back for rehabilitation. It necessitated insertion of T Natrajan and W sundar who were serving as Net bowlers for the team. The fact that Australian remained unbeaten at Brisbane in last three decade compelled management to mull over possible permutations and Combination for series decider. India went in with four fast bowlers on traditionally pace friendly track with experience of four test matches in their piggyback. The eviction of Kuldeep Yadav caught everyone by surprise unless debutant proclaimed his arrival by sending back centurion of the last test. India was lagging behind after they found themselves trailing by more than one fifty runs when two of their Youngest player with negligible experience hanged in and took India closer to first inning total. Their innings embodied the mindset and skill set of Younger Generation as they barely looked uncomfortable by the pace of speedsters.
In fact, They established a belief that they can compete and made India smell a series victory on foreign soil. The 320 plus target in fourth inning at Gabba was never easy on a drizzle affected day where a team couldn’t plan the chase. The wicket of Rohit in early hours of the last day looked to exclude successful chase out of the equation. The partnership between intrepid subhman Gill and resolute Pujara kept hopes alive, though. The wicket of latter came as blessing in disguise for India as it brought ravaging Rishabh pant to bat who could change the course of the Game in hours and he kept composure to Put final nail in the coffin. They left aussies frustrated and world cricket awestruck after bashing them at their bastion in a fascinating and Unbelievable manner.
The series win becomes more special with perennial memory as the next generation of Indian players pushed themselves above the expectations to Script history and mark their dominating advent in world cricket defying all differences.
