Coming into the high-profile Border Gavaskar Trophy, Australia -- the top-ranked Test team in the world, seemed to be in a buoyant mood. After a successful summer back home, the confident and wiser Kangaroos were tipped to finally scale their 'Mount Everest' -- a Test series win in India, their first since the famous 2-1 win in 2004. The optimism was fuelled by a run of excellent results which sees them at the top of the ICC World Test Championship table, with a considerable gap over second-placed India. The Aussies will secure a spot in the Test Championship final if they avoid getting whitewashed in India. But in the run-up to the series, survival was the last thing on the mind of the Aussies with the talk among the experts and ex-players Down Under about conquering India, which has become the Holy Grail for them after four successive failures in the country.
However, that optimism quickly faded as the Kangaroos were ground to dust within three days in the alien environs of Nagpur, bullied by India's spin wizards Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. It didn't help that the visitors lost their minds at the first sight of the pitch at the traditionally spin-friendly VCA Stadium. The conspiracy theories suggesting attempts at doctoring the red soil deck by the curators were an unnecessary distraction for Pat Cummins' men. The claims that the curators deliberately left dry patches for the Indians to utilise against the left-handers-heavy Australian batting line-up proved far from true as two left-handed batters, Jadeja and Axar Patel, hit big fifties to help India secure a match-winning 223-run first-innings lead after the Aussies were bowled out for a paltry 177.
Questions will be asked of Australian selectors who left out Travis Head, who had scored 525 runs at 87.50 in his last five Test matches during the home summer, to stick to their horses for courses approach. This approach of picking a team for specific conditions instead of playing the best available eleven has clearly not worked for the visitors. The non-inclusion of left-arm spinner Ashton Agar will also be debated as his opposite number Jadeja tormented the Aussies with seven wickets in the match.
The innings defeat in Nagpur within three days is a rude awakening for the pompous Kangaroos, confident in their abilities of knocking over India in India. That ambition has been given a reality check and it will take a monumental effort from the visitors, starting with a favourable coin toss, to upset the mighty Indian juggernaut in the subcontinent.
National Games in Goa, finally
The Goa government has proposed that the postponed National Games be held in the State in November later this year. Goa was embarrassed after the Indian Olympic Association snatched away the 36th edition of the Games from the State and held it in Gujarat, which admirably hosted it at a short notice. One hopes that the State government and the officials in charge of moving things on the ground would have learnt their lessons and Goa keeps its date with the Games. However, it is another matter to ascertain whether our athletes are ready to perform when the big occasion arrives. It would be meaningless if the State hosts the Games but it doesn't reflect in the performance of the athletes.
