India - Australia Series : More than just cricket

In about 8 days from the time of writing this article, the Boxing Day test match between India and Australia would be underway at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Everyone is expecting a very enthralling and close series when the upbeat Indian team is going to face a transitional Aussie team. There is a lot of hype surrounding the post-Christmas test with Sachin Tendulkar on the verge of completing 100 centuries (though it has been really quite some time).

Oh! Is this yet another article that comes as a preview to the series? (Doesn’t anyone know all this?) Well it is kind of a preview to the series. But we are going to talk about the non-cricketing aspect of it. On the field, both the teams have fantastic players and most of them put their talents to use on the field as well. But the most important and intriguing feature of this tournament are going to be the mental games that happen on the field.

Every team in the cricketing fraternity is best at its home. There are a lot of advantages that come to play when the game is played on the home surface. The crowd support is a very important merit. As much as they support the home team, they boo the opposition and distract them to the very possible extent. There has been no match that has happened in recent times in India where the winning captain has not thanked the crowd for its amazing support. With the increase of local leagues happening across multiple nations, the spectators just love when a local boy plays.

Recently an article that I read spoke about the art of sledging and had a handful of examples and instances of sledging in it. And it was rather surprising that out of the 10 instances; about 6 had Aussies involved in them. For the last 2 decades, the Aussies have been known to be heavy sledgers. Though there have been reports about Australia being aggressive beyond cricketing means, the Baggy Green cappers, are not subtle about them. “For me it’s when I’m at my best and it’s how Ricky (Ponting) goes about it with me. He knows if he can get me going and fired up, I can get the rest of the boys going too. I enjoy having some fun with the batters. It’s just the way I like to play my cricket. If it helps the other boys get the job done, then I’m happy to do it.”, this statement from Peter Siddle, after the 2010 Ashes test at WACA, sums it up.

“I think there’s no doubt the team’s performance has been affected. Hard, aggressive cricket is in the Australian team’s DNA and unfortunately the players started second-guessing their natural instincts in the heat of battle for fear of reprisal from Cricket Australia or public backlash from the vocal minority. I know for a fact that many of the opposition teams were seeking to exploit what they now saw as a weakness in the Australian team.” , the then(Dec 2010) Chief of Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) Paul Marsh told this while speaking of his team’s poor performances.

But on the other hand, the Indian team has some of the most composed cricketers in the world today. There have been no instances in the illustrious careers of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman, of sledging or misbehavior on the field. But in Gautham Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Zaheer Khan, the Indians also have decent sledgers. But how far they would be able to compete with the hosts, is going to be an important question.

So beyond the actual cricket that is going to be played Down Under in the next 3 months, the other aspects involved are going to be equally important in determining the outcome of the series. Hope better cricket prevails and the team better equipped with cricketing skills and temperament come up on the top. Bring it on!