When Indian Cricket Team Triumphed Australia in Australia in Summer of 21

As a kid born after the 1983 world cup glory, cricket games that had moments of brilliance and stayed with me as a happy memory were  few and far apart. Be it 1993 Hero Cup Semi Final, Sachin’s Desert Storm in 98, 2001 remarkable Australian Home Test series, 2003 World Cup, 2007 T20 world cup win and to top it all 2011 World Cup win at home which brought all of us on to the streets to celebrate.

But what I witnessed on 19th Jan, 2021 was something different. Something very special and never did I feel that level happiness as a cricket fan before.

Was this Indian team that won test series against Australia in Australia the best I have ever seen? Hell No!! I have had the pleasure of watching far more talented Indian teams and Indian players. Then what made this series win so special?

For starters, the sheer satisfaction that our team was able to  do what we always thought was impossible for India teams. We were not used to our No7/8 batsmen putting up a fight and digging the team out of a hole, we thought that’s something only Gilchrist and Australia are capable of doing. We were not used to our fast bowlers intimidating Australia in Australia. That was only allowed for McGrath and Brett Lee to do. It was acceptable to lose a series in Australia.

When India lost 1st test match after getting bowled out for 36, the optimistic fan in me wanted to believe that it was just an aberration and we are better than this. But then our star batsman captain Kohli had to leave, one of our best bowlers in Shami got injured and team was looking all over the place in terms of confidence and body language. There was no ray of hope for an average cricket fan like me to look forward to or hope for any sort of comeback.

But then the Boxing Day test match showed us glimpses of how this new generation of cricketers are not cut from the same cloth as what someone like me was used to. They believed in their abilities and showed us in sport like in life, when you get knocked down you get up and punch back.

Rahane took the challenge as an opportunity and lead from the front with a brilliant century to win the famous Boxing Day test and level the series. And also, this was the game where we saw for the 1st time young man from Punjab named Shubman Gill impressing one and all with his amazing stroke play and attitude. He reminded me of how today’s 21 year olds are not overwhelmed by the big stage rather they are ready to take on the very challenge head on.

My post game emotion was that of a happy fan, proud of great leadership shown by Rahane and excellent attitude shown by the team to come back from 36 all out and win the famous Boxing Day test match. And at this point I was relieved that we will not lose the series 4-0.

After the second test there was a gap of good 7/8 days before the third test at Sydney. Rohit Sharma was set to make a comeback and personally I was not sure if that was good or bad as he has had a very average test career till then,especially outside of India. (With the luxury of hind sight I can say I was wrong on my assumption of the HitMan Sharma)

Sydney test started and it was going as per the script for Australia to make a comeback and win the match. But that’s when this Indian team stood up and showed to rest of the world what is not to be! Australia set India a target of 400+ with 4 sessions to go. When everyone expected Australia to steamroll India on the 5th day pitch at Sydney, Pujara with his rock solid defence and Rishabh Pant with his aggression opened up the possibility of improbable India win. As they say not all dreams come true and this dream of famous India win hit a pause as Australia bounced back by sending Pant and Pujara back to the hut in quick succession. And now we had Hanuma Vihari on his one leg (as he injured his hamstring while batting) and R Ashwin with a sore back (apparently it was so bad that his wife tweeted he couldn’t stand on his feet that morning) on the crease and Ravindra Jadeja with broken thumb to follow. It sounds all gloomy right? And it was like that. I like many Indian fans of my generation accepted that it’s ok to lose from here on as that is what we are used to right? But again this side was nothing like the ones which we were used to. Ash and Vihari played out the entire session with their sever injuries to give India an improbable draw. This effort from Ashwin and Vihari was even more commendable considering the amount of sledging they had to face from apparently new looking Australian team that wanted to play the clean game but after all they were the same old bad boys when put under pressure.

Again giving us a very important life lesson, until you are knocked out you must get up and punch back, doesn’t matter even if you are punching sitting on one knee, what is important is that you are still in the ring and fighting.

After this test I was very thrilled with what this team has done and extremely proud of players like Vihari and Jadeja in showing the courage to keep fighting even when hurt. And of course Ash, I have now huge respect for this guy. To bat like the way he batted (which is not his primary skill) with such bad back to save a test match and at same time keep motivating the young Vihari to continue on one leg speaks volumes about the person and the leader in Ravichandran Ashwin.

After the Sydney game again the optimist fan in me started thinking if this team can do the improbable and win the last test match and the series, but and it was a very big BUT. Last match was to be played in Gabba, where Australia had not lost a test match since 1988 and with only 3 days between 3rd and 4th test match, there was no way injured Ashwin,Jadeja,Bumrah and Vihari are going to recover. Which gave once in a lifetime opportunity to people like Natarajan,Sundar and Shardul who were at the right place at the right time and grabbed their opportunities with both hands.

Fast forward to Day 5 of the final test and what we witnessed was absolutely surreal. Steel and Patience of Chateshwar ‘Rock’ Pujara, taking so many body blows from head to chest to elbow and fingers which at the end made sure that Australian fast bowlers were tired and out of gas for likes of Gill,Pant and Sundar to play absolute fearless cricket. What IPL and excellent India A program under ‘Sir’ Rahul Dravid has done is to make these 21-23 year olds match ready on Day 0. No words can do justice to the skills and temperament shown by this young generation of ‘New India’. At the end Rishabh Pant was just too hot to handle for the formidable Aussie pace attack and INDIA prevailed!!!!!!

This was the perfect example of a Champion team winning over a few Champion players.

At the end of it collection of all these individual moments of brilliance over the course of 4 test matches made this series the greatest ever in my experience as an average Cricket fan. This win showered positivity and hope for otherwise gloomy last few months due to the scary and deadly pandemic.

Thank you to all the players from Team INDIA in making those unbelievable and not so easy sacrifices and staying in the bio bubble, putting their bodies in line and still fighting their hearts out to give us fans this moment of glory which we will cherish for many years to come. And Thank you for teaching us a very important life lesson of keep fighting till we prevail by not thinking and worrying about what we don't have or lost rather focus on what we have and use those resources with utmost sincerity. 

THANK YOU!!!

-Average Indian Cricket Fan