Pup Comes of Age

Amidst all the IPL tamasha and the detention of Shah Rukh Khan in US, what the Indian media had missed out was Australia's heroic and historic win at Barbados against West Indies. For a quick recap West Indies had amassed a decent total (thanks to a century by Chanderpaul) of 449 and declared after 9 wickets in the first innings. But what the Aussies did may seem absolutely bizarre. They decided to declare their first innings after reaching 406 for 9 wickets.

To many it would seem they were handing over 40 runs and an assured win to the West Indians in a platter. Thankfully Indian bookies were busy with IPL, or many would have burnt their fingers betting for West Indies. Days 4 and 5 proved quite a revelation. The youthful Aussie squad proved its mettle, turned the tide in their favour and captain Michael Clarke had the last laugh.

For them the time and not runs was the main factor. Hence they cut short the first innings chase to make room for bowling the West Indians out in the second innings and chasing the total. Clarke thus earned the rare distinction of being the second captain in the history of Test cricket to win a match after declaring behind.

Ever since Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Matthew Hayden retired, the Aussie team was on a 'work in progress' mode. They even seemed vulnerable, especially against teams like England. But now it looks like the boys have turned into men, ready to dominate cricket the way their preceding generation did.

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Now cut to July 10, 2011, India was touring the same West Indies and was already leading the series. On the final day of the last Test at Dominica, India had a fair chance of making it two-nil. But surprisingly, with 15 overs to go and 86 runs required and seven wickets at hand, M S Dhoni decided to call off the match and opted for a draw. Probably he feared the Indian batting may crumble and he would lose the much coveted credit of winning an overseas tour. Sadly, for Indian cricketers chasing an individual statistic takes precedence over winning a match. I need not recall how for Sachin Tendulkar's hundredth-100 we ended up losing to Bangladesh. It is not a new trend either - have been seeing this right from the days of Gavaskar.

Mind you this is the same Dhoni who comes in a TV ad (proxy for a liquor brand run by Vijay Mallya) and brags how he thought 'differently' and helped India win T-20 and one-day world cups. He always wore his small town upbringing on his sleeve and used to project himself as a street smart guy who came up the hard way. But sadly on July 10, 2011, all that professed derring-do was missing. 

After this 'feet of clay' performance, it was one free-fall for India with nightmarish thrashings, first at the hands of England and then Australia.