The winter is getting colder and the typical Indian cricket season has finally set in. Ranji matches around the country are in progress. Some new names have come, are showing some early signs of crossing their expiration dates. The archetypal taste of cricket arrived (although there is no such thing for the present generation, is for veterans to feel).
Amidst this scenario, the preparation for the long-awaited tour of India, Australia has also started. It's been almost three years since India embarked on probably the most difficult of all the tours - the troubled 2008 tour Down Under.
Everything was there to make the show memorable. It was marked by loss of confidence by the captain host, threatens to withdraw from the tour for tourists in the field sledding, off-field allegations and accusations.
India has a tremendous fighting qualities against a team that was still the superior strength in world cricket. Not only in cricket ground, but elsewhere as well as the behavior of the Indian team was professional. The then Indian captain Anil Kumble's handling 'Sydneygate' is an example.
Things really changed since then. Australia are not as strong as they used to be. Ponting is no longer in charge of business in Australia. A new captain took over. Once the team was undefeated, now Australia has lost the aura, the never-say-die attitude, courage and brutality that were previously known. Some years ago, the Australian pace attack used to group conflicts to embarrassingly low scores. Now they get shot out to 47!
The series of 2008 marked the fall of Australian cricket and the beginning of a new era for Indian cricket.
For India, there is Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh who tormented the Aussies at their peak. Dhoni has now grown in strength as captain, leading the team to the top in tests and ODIs. Although England took the No. 1 tag of India, Dhoni & Co. once again began to march to the top with a series win against the side beating the West Indies tour.
There is hardly any doubt that the Australian test side is the weakest since the early nineties. The stars are aging out of shape, new talent did nothing to cement his place in the team. The bowling has no talent like McGrath and Warne.
Pat Cummings may have set fire to a cricket ground in their series opener against South Africa, but the bowling attack is very immature and insipid. The more experienced Mitchell Johnson is finding it difficult to bowl consistently well in the tests. Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris has the talent to match the aura of their illustrious predecessors.
Having searched frantically for a quality spinner Warne after retirement for nearly four years, Australia has finally off-spinner Nathan Lyon. His impressive career took off in Sri Lanka a couple of months ago. No doubt he has talent and can be one of the best in the business. But succeeding against a touring Indian team will be very difficult. Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman, Dravid, Gambhir - everyone has a PhD in facing spin bowling.
Australia batting line-up is also the weakest in 20 years. Run, somehow escaped star batsmen Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey. Batting wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin is not generating any confidence. No one knows why Phil Hughes is on the team. He is ill-equipped to deal with pace and bounce, a horrendous draw-back of an opener. The new faces in the team-Khwaja Usman, Shaun Marsh has talent. But it is still early for both.
With a strong batting line-up that has names like the highest and second highest scorers in the world runs in Tests - Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, India's batting is very strong. The opening pair of Sehwag and Gambhir is one of the best all the time. Laxman lazy elegance is hard to match and he is probably the most attractive batsmen the game has ever seen. Virat Kohli has done enough during his international career emerging that we can call it the next big star of Indian cricket. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane are waiting in the wings for their chance of success in testing. Under Dhoni, India has the best wicketkeeper batsman and the best captain.
The only concern for India is bowling. India with Zaheer Khan is a completely different outfit in India Zaheer less. Zak has to be fully able to assume the responsibility of being the leader of the inexperienced attack. With him on the team, he has a lot of load off Ishant Sharma, who is still struggling to gain a considerable number of wickets. Umesh Yadav looks good on the test he played against windier. Aaron Varun had also done well on the track Wankhede lifeless. Both have the kind of pace that can trouble the best batsmen. But a game is not enough to judge. It's anyone's guess how they adjust to the conditions Down Under.
It is same for the two spinners in the team. They rolled well they played in three tests. And in terms of performances that are currently the best spinners in India. But questions remain ... they can meet the pace-friendly Perth and bands Gabba?
Overall, it is the best chance for India to win its first series of tests-ever Down Under.
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