The passion for cricket has been on my head since childhood and hardly anyone has suffered as much as I have suffered due to cricket. I still remember being humiliated when I came home late because of the cricket tournament on Sunday. The next day this was repeated at school and was greeted with regular sticks for not doing homework, but according to Amy John, "you have very good skin."
However, in the busyness of life, there is no time to play cricket, but as far as I can see, this passion is still there. Australia's defeat at the hands of India reminded me of my childhood. Whenever there was a defeat in the first match of the series against a team, he would start crying saying, "We are not playing the second match. You have brought big boys."
The children of India also made a history that will be remembered for a long time by destroying the pride of the team that remained unbeaten for 33 years in the Brisbane Test. After a historic low in the Adelaide Test (his lowest score of 36) and his worst defeat in the match, the journey to the miracle (33-year record victory) in Gabba was nothing short of miraculous. Never before in history has a B team beaten Australia in a home run. Here we also have to commend Ajinkya Rahane for how he took the ground-breaking team to new heights in the absence of India's star batsman and captain Virat Kohli.
In fact, it is not just the victory of the team or the captain, but the victory of India's domestic system, in which they have been investing for many years, and now the results are beginning to come. It would be an exaggeration not to mention Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid here. Ravi Shastri, the head coach of the Indian team, is admirable for maintaining the atmosphere in the dressing room of the team despite the unfitness of key players.
On the other hand, after representing the country from 1996 to 2012, Rahul Dravid stepped into the field of coaching and coached the Under-Nineteen and A teams from 2016 to 2019. During his coaching, the Indian team reached the final in 2016 and became the world champion in 2018. Today, Dravid is the director of the National Cricket Academy of India. India's contribution to Australia is due to Rahul Dravid.
Now let's talk about how the Indian team suddenly came under discussion. So for that we have to go back about a month when India were humiliated all over the world for being out on the lowest score in their Test history in the Test that started in Adelaide on December 19. But then in the very next matches, what the children of this team did in Australia on January 19, setting an example of fearlessness and courage, was also visible.
After the defeat of the first match, there was an occasion when the dressing room of the Indian team was likened to an emergency ward. Because by the time they reached the Gabba Test, half of the Indian team was unfit, which led to the debut of not one but five players in this important tour. Shabman Gul, Mohammad Siraj, Washington Sundar, Shardal Thakur, Nitrajan and Nodib Saini took full advantage of the opportunity in the absence of seniors and played their part in making history. Despite the failure of the top order several times, sometimes the middle order and sometimes the lower order made history. In terms of resistance, in the case of Chattiswar Pachara, India has got another "wall" after Rahul Dravid, who defended Pat Cummins and Hazlewood bouncers with his body to save the wicket.
In the Adelaide Test, India batted first and scored 244 runs, in response to which Australia were bowled out for 191 runs and India took a 53-run lead. But in the second innings, Indian batsmen Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins could not cope with the bowling and surprisingly not a single player entered the double-figure and the entire team was bowled out for the lowest score in its history at 36 runs. The match was also lost on the third day.
https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1340205396871548928
After the embarrassing defeat in the Adelaide Test, the Indian team was well covered in the national and international media and was criticized by its own people including others. Captain Virat Kohli, who returned to India after the birth of his daughter after the first Test, was left wondering how he could leave the team at the mercy of the Australian bowlers.
Major players, including former Australia captains, predicted India's humiliating defeat at the hands of Australia and started dreaming of a 0-4 whitewash of India, which was retweeted by Indian player Ashwin after the historic victory.
Ricky Ponting, who has won two World Cup trophies for Australia, said that in the absence of Virat Kohli, there is a good chance for Australia to whitewash India. After such a defeat, someone can lift this team. 2015 World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke said that without Virat Kohli, India's batting line-up would be in dire straits in the next two Tests. Former Australia captain Mark Waugh also predicted a 0-4 victory for Australia in the series, saying "I don't think India can come back after the third day of defeat at the hands of Australia." Former England captain Michael Vaughan said, "I have already said that India is going to be hit hard in the Test series." "I thought India only had a chance to win the Adelaide Test but now I don't think they can do anything more," said former wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Hayden.
In the Boxing Day Test, India defeated Australia by 8 wickets to prove that they can play without Virat Kohli. Debuting in the match, Shabman Gul and Mohammad Siraj played brilliantly. Captain Ajinkya Rahane also batted responsibly. In the second Test, India came out without Virat Kohli and their strike bowler Mohammad Shami. Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma were already unfit, so the team had to make 4 changes. Shabman Gul and Mohammad Siraj were given Test caps, Ravindra Jadeja and Reship Pont were also included in the squad.
After the second victory, India's spirits soared and the arrival of veteran batsman Rohit Sharma breathed some relief. He was replaced by out-of-form Manik Agarwal. Nodib Saini was given a test cap after main strike bowler Omesh Yadav became unfit. Australia gave India a target of 407 runs to win, in response to which India scored 334 runs for 5 wickets. Rohit Sharma, Chatshwar Bachara scored half-centuries and Reshappant played an aggressive innings of 97 off just 118 balls. If he had stayed on the wicket for a while, this match would have been in India's swing like in the fourth match, but he was unfortunately dismissed. However, the heroes of the third match proved to be Ravi Chandra Eshwan and Hanuma Vihari. When Australia needed just 5 wickets to win, they both stood in front of Australia's bowling line like a wall and India managed to prevent Australia from a certain defeat.
Prior to the GABA Test, there were some quarantine issues between the Indian and Australian boards, on which Australia had started making noise that the Indian team was running away for fear of GABA's bounce. Not only that, during the third match, the captain of Australia, Tim Penn, also said to Ashwin, "Can't wait to see the GABA". Which, of course, made the video an overnight sensation.
For the final and decisive Test of the series, India was unfortunate that the heroes of the third match Ravi Chandra Eshwan and Hanuma Vihari as well as Ravindra Jadeja and the last main strike bowler Jaspreet Bumra also became unfit. In such a situation, India barely completed their team by giving test caps to two more players on the bouncy track of Gabba, but that too was not a regular team of India and almost the entire team was new. Despite their inexperience, the new players were in high spirits, thanks to their debuts, Washington Sundar, Nitrajan and Shardal Thackeray, playing their second match, upset the Australian batsmen and the Indian team was bowled out for 369 in the first innings.
Despite the failure of India's top and middle order in the first innings, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thackeray, who came to bat at number 7 and 8, showed their essence in batting, scoring half-centuries and putting India in a fighting position. Playing his third match, Mohammad Siraj showed the magic of his bowling in the second innings and guided 5 players to the pavilion and Shardal Thakur took 4 wickets with his full support. Australia gave India a very difficult target of 328 runs to win.
On the last day of the GABA Test, India could have entered the field with the intention of a draw, because drawing a match here in front of a strong Australian team would have been no less than a miracle. But young Indian players were obsessed with making history. The Indian players not only broke the 33-year-old record by playing positive cricket and defeating Australia in Gabba, but also broke Australia's 69-year-old record by scoring 328 runs in the fourth innings.
Shabman Gul, playing his third match at the start of the fourth day of play, made a splash on the veteran Australian bowling line-up and hit a quick 91 off 147 balls. At the last minute, when the match had entered a thrilling phase, Reship Pont started playing T20 style cricket. There were 3 overs left in the match but Reship Pont had made his name in the pages of history in golden letters and made history for India by playing an innings of 89 runs off 138 balls.
In the end, I would just like to say that it doesn't matter if any team has only big names, but when it comes to the field, if there is a spirit of service to the country and dedication to win, then even children beat big ones. The Australian captain and coach also admitted his defeat against India, saying "we took India too lightly and we will not make the same mistake again." I was reminded by Australian coach Justin Langer's statement of Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq in which he blamed the defeat against New Zealand on the absence of inexperienced bowlers and Babar Azam.
No comments:
Post a Comment