Can India Make History?

Unabridged version of article in #TablaSingapore

The Boxing Day test at the MCG has always held a special place in cricketing hearts. It is one of the most anticipated test matches of the year, not just in Australia but the global cricketing fraternity, no matter who Australia plays. 

It’s popularity has now led to most test playing nations in the Southern Hemisphere  adding a Boxing Day test on their calendars, offering viewers the world over marathon viewing of test Cricket for the period right after Christmas. 

However in Australia, it is special. Given the stature of the mighty MCG as a Cricket ground, especially when it fills up as Australia take on the old enemy, England, or India their new arch rivals. 

Perth had turned out to be a huge setback for India, not because they lost but because of how they did, especially after they won their first test in Adelaide. 

Kohli himself admitted they had fallen for what the wicket looked like and what they thought it would do. For the second time in the year, India played an all pace attack. 

However, unlike Johannesburg in January last year the outcome in Perth in December turned out to be a defeat. 

The Australian pace battery exploited the conditions perfectly, but the man who had the Indian’s undone was once again, their off spinner Nathan Lyon. 

To turn around from the setback of 146 run defeat in a test match is never easy, especially when you are playing Australia in their den.  

Sir Winston Churchill had once said: “Success is going from one disappointment to another with no loss in enthusiasm”.  

If there is one thing this Indian team has shown throughout the year, is their ability to move on from the setback of a defeat and turn up the next day, with nothing but winning on their minds.  

Defeats have had minimal impact on the way they have played their cricket or on their mindset which has always remained positive, and the credit for that must be given to the team leadership, especially their captain Virat Kohli. 

For all the criticisms one may level at Kohli as a strategist the one thing you cannot take away from him is his insatiable appetite for getting better and winning, especially overseas.

The man does not have a “negative” ion in his body. Which is why one often wonders about his thought process when he play’s tests with only four bowlers or some of the defensive field settings especially to tail-enders, but I digress. 

Not only did the Indians bounce back, they won the third test in Melbourne by a huge margin of 137 runs. 

Santa Claus handed the Indian team and its fans a Christmas present in the form of Mayank Agarwal. 

The gutsy Karnataka batsman was not only asked to make his debut at the MCG but was also asked to open the batting along with another makeshift opener in Hanuma Vihari. 

Success they say is when opportunity meets preparedness and Mayank had been preparing for this moment through 47 first class matches that include 8 centuries and 21 half centuries. 

It also includes a high score of 304 not out, which according to commentator Kerry O Keefe was scored in a Ranji Trophy game against the “canteen staff” of the Indian Railways. 

O’Keefe was left smelling the coffee as Mayank finished with match scores of 76 and 42 and took 3 outstanding catches 2 at short leg and one at short mid-wicket. 

Perth is probably the last time Indian fans will see Murali Vijay opening the batting in tests for India. 

If Mayank continues on his merry way, then the prodigious Prithvi Shaw will have a ready partner when he returns to open the batting for India with Lokesh Rahul still being part of the plans.

It was a ‘bold’ decision to win the toss and bat, but ‘bold’ is exactly how Kohli approaches the game. Tim Paine was honest in admitting he would have bowled had he won the toss, given how green the wicket looked.  

The two youngsters Agarwal and Vihari scraped their way to an opening stand of 40. More importantly they battled for 18 overs, something India had not done in the previous two test's. 

The MCG test however belonged to one man. Jasprit Bumra made 2018 his own as he finished with match figures of 9 for 86.

For those that heard him speak in post-match interviews at the MCG, Bumrah made crystal clear his desire to play test cricket, not just now but from the time he started playing the game as a kid.

From making his debut for India less than 12 months ago to taking what is hopefully his first of many man of the match trophies, he has now grown into the spearhead of what is a very potent fast bowling attack that India has. Some rate it amongst the best in the world even, but to me such comparisons are odious and irrelevant. 

It is not just about the 48 wickets he has picked in eight tests, but the fact that he picks them at an average of 21 runs giving no more than 2.65 runs an over, striking once every 8 overs which has placed him among the best of the world.

The Indian coaching staff has copped a lot of criticism for where it has not done well.  But, it would only then be fair to call out the splendid work done so far by Bharat Arun, the bowling coach. 

As Michael Clarke rightly observed, the beauty of the work done is not in how the bowlers are bowling but evident in the back up available. On the bench are top class pacemen  Bhuvaneshwar Kumar or Umesh Yadav and fine spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

A special mention here for the opponents especially Pat Cummins, who typifies the Aussie fighting spirit. I have often wondered if he is a Gladiator or the Energizer Bunny, and have firmly concluded, he is both. 

As if match figures of 9 for 99 are not enough, he fields like a man possessed and you might as well use a crane to haul him away from the crease.

His 63 in the second inning was a lesson in batting not just for tail-enders but for all top order batsmen who have struggled in this series. 

Had it not been for his resistance, Australia would have struggled to add respectability to their score line. 

By winning the third test India have ensured they cannot lose this series, which means they retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

However, if the attitude of this team is anything to go by, just like their defeats, they won’t be making much of this win either. Not because it does not matter but because the job is not over. 

History beckons Kohli and his men,  as they seem set to win the first series in Australia by any Indian team. 

The 6 test defeats in South Africa and England, were painful lessons that propelled them to work harder and prepare better. 

In Sydney they will have the opportunity to etch their names in the annals of Indian cricketing history, forever!