Forget the scoreline

India versus Australia can no longer be spoken of as a burgeoning rivalry: the history, the animosities, the personalities involved – this is one of the great cricketing contests of modern times.

Forget balanced bowling attacks, or whether to pick White or Krejza. Forget the swansong of the old guard. These are only topical subtexts flowing alongside a greater narrative: a story that can be traced through Sachin Tendulkar’s mastering of Shane Warne, VVS Laxman’s 281 and Australia’s eventual storming of Nagpur back in 2004.

Each new chapter has proved to be as compelling as the last. This is a narrative of such glorious ebb and flow that every cricket fan will be glued to his television or his computer over the coming weeks to be a part of the ensuing drama. India and Australia have yet to disappoint us in these duels.

As George Orwell famously wrote in 1945: sport, as we know it, “is war minus the shooting”. When England meet Germany or India play Pakistan there is so much more to the game than is being played out on the pitch. Sport bears the incredible burden of history. This is what makes such games and series so fascinating to the outsider, and so important to the partisan fan.

India and Australia may not have faced each other down the barrel of a gun, but their recent cricketing battles – both on and off the pitch – mean history is as overt and consequential in this series as in any other between rival nations. When the coin is finally tossed in Bangalore tomorrow the collective intake of breath across the sub-continent will be powerful enough to suck up the Bay of Bengal. Such feelings are the foundations stones upon which this series stands, and which makes it so iconic.

As to the cricket itself, I think India’s chances are over-rated and that Australia will surprise those who describe their bowling attack as weak and their batting as undercooked.

Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Shane Watson all have the control needed for success in India, and it isn’t often that Australia’s batsman fail to perform. Simon Katich, for one, has been Bradman-esque in state cricket for the last year or so. Their spinners look poor, but it was their pace attack that won the series in 2004. I also remember the last time the Aussies chances were played down. They replied to the tune of 5-0.

For India, barring Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, their batsmen have been poor in recent times. Lee’s pace, like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel’s for South Africa recently, will unsettle them. Even if MS Dhoni, for example, were to score a brilliant hundred tomorrow, the focus will still be on Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to prove their doubters wrong. This will surely eat away at the team.

I predict a victory for Australia, but this is a series which is about so much more than the eventual scoreline.


This article can also be found at The Corridor (a cricket blog)