Change, it is said is the only thing that is constant.
Australian cricket 'seemed’ to defy it. From the time Steve Waugh took over from Taylor, there was but one team at the top.
In soccer it was the Brazilians before the Italians. In chess it was Kramnik before Anand.
In F1 it was Schumacher before Alonso, Kimi and Hamilton. In tennis it was Federer before Nadal...
In cricket however, it was always the mighty Australians all the way.
It all began in 1996 when Srilanka beat Australia to become the world champions. Australian cricket ‘changed’ the way cricket is played and began to conquer. Steve Waugh took over and formed a team that was strong in their game and mind.
Nation after nation , team after team everyone was humiliated, troubled and trampled
While it took the top spot in both forms of cricket.
The only few times it faltered in their 12 year long domination was against India in 2001 and 2003-04 and in The Ashes in 2005.
But then it came back to India in 2004 and broke the ‘final frontier’ and gave England a humiliating 5-0 whitewash in 2007.
In the limited overs format, Australia was the best when it came to big matches and big tournaments. When the whole world thought that the Aussies would struggle in the recent world cup, they only came back stronger and won all its matches enroute to becoming the world champions for the third consecutive time.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Australia seemed to be unbeatable.
Then came the retirement of the great Shane Warne, McGrath, Kasparovicz and Damien Martyn. This was the time the whole world was waiting for. At the same time transition was taking place in a sub-continent team. The selectors backed the youngsters, aimed for a stronger bench strength. They took bold decisions.
This Indian team went Down Under, ruffled the Australian’s feathers in the tests and beat them convincingly in the one-dayers. This wasn’t enough. Gilchrist then left Ausrtalia with a big void to be filled.
Doubts sprouted in everyone’s mind as the kangaroos toured India. They still backed themselves. And they were the better side in the first test.
Indian team tightened itself and won the next test more than convincingly.
Shane Warne and McGrath were remembered and missed as was Gilly. At the same time Anil Kumble and ganguly announced their retirements.
All the doubts only became clear when this confident Indian team beat the mighty Aussies the second time and won back the Border- Gavaskar trophy.
The Australian media and its former players are now doubting their team and captain calling for his sacking.
Meanwhile the transition period was successful for Team India. Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj will fill the voids along with Mishra and Piyush Chawla. The pacers are one of the best in the world with equally talented replacements. Sachin Tendulkar and Laxman will still be around to nurture the youngsters.
But the most important thing is that their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a cool headed,
confident and dependable. Not to forget he was suggested by Tendulkar himself.
Everyone’s eyes are now on one team. Deservedly.
Change, it looks like, is about to happen.
Is it a Change of Guard?
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about 1 month ago
In USA , It was Obama.
So yes. Change is about to happen .
I'd like to think that its more of India getting better than the Aussies declining. India's youngsters are fab, and they'll bring the team up, to where the Aussies *once* were ;)
from about 1 month ago
michelle,
yeah i totally agree with you.
But we will wait till India plays against England. That will make things more clear.
from about 1 month ago
I know we should wait, and trust me I'm not an indian cricket fan, so its alot for me to be saying this.... But thanks to Dhoni, they're outstanding so far!
from about 1 month ago
yea yea - its a combination of both
its hard to recover from -
marto, gills, langs, warney and pigeon (w/o Roy too)
its almost inevitable the aussie boys come down to earth ... but India have displayed some brilliant game this time around
cheers
about 1 month ago
India if and a big IF can be consistent will be strong throughout--but the problem Nik is that they are still slow while fielding as also running between wickets. They are slack in their fielding and I saw a couple of matches in Bangalore where I felt like going and twisting some of their ears cause they just saunter to the ball as if it were club cricket--not done! They have to get their act together and slackness in fielding is something that is not good
from about 1 month ago
ok.
But i guess change is around. Youngsters will be better on the field now...yeah the mishras can be an exception but then mishra can field well as he showed it the last match with that amazing runout...
Laxman will have to buck up at slips and the other senior .. he will give his best.. he has the best throw in world cricket.
Hopefully that BIG IF gets smaller as tests pass by... Dhoni can make them better.
lets just wait and watch....
about 1 month ago
thats what nikhil, thats what i am trying to say, india has a talented bunch of players now and had them when we played the series against the aussies in 2001 there and that point of time also we were too jubilant about our performance.....but we lack consistency which, was and will continue to be our main problem.
as reagrds my under estimating my cricket team, if it becomes the world no 1 i will jump on the rooftop of my bldg.....i love cricket big time ......
about 1 month ago
may be all of you guys can bring back cricket back from the dungeons from BR -
i know rohini and nikhil are very much into it -
work on it and get it on the front page ... its hard - but it can be done
f-1 made it - and its predominantly European, am more than inclined to play side kick ...and i knw sara is busy with f-1, michelle soccer
so ONE of you MUST take the lead ?
from about 1 month ago
i'm always ready to help. I've been in to cricket for about 12 years. But i don't write because i feel i don't really know much and there are others who do. I'd love to try but i'm not sure how the good the response would be. With football it just comes easier.
from about 1 month ago
well - Michelle, someone must get the ball rollin' right -
we shall -
from about 1 month ago
we will try our best.....
from about 1 month ago
Looking forward to it!
about 1 month ago
Dhoni has been excellent so far, but it remains to be seen how he fares once things start turning against him. The Fates have been generous with him so far, everything he has tried has worked, and frankly I'm not complaining.
Our ODI team really does look like potential world champions. The test team has some way to go to fill in the void left by the seniors.
Mind you, a certain Andrew Symonds was left out of the Aussie squad for this series for disciplinary reasons. Had he played, we could have been seriously inconvenienced...
I think we're playing better cricket than the Aussies at the moment, but we'll only get there if we manage to do it consistently over the next 2-3 years. Which is what we're all hoping for i suppose...
from about 1 month ago
u r right, rahul.....
but could Roy do what punter , hayden , clarke couldnt.... maybe.... but then lets hope for the best for India...
from about 1 month ago
remember what Roy did at Sydney (with the assistance of Messrs. Bucknor and Benson of course)...
from about 1 month ago
agreed
about 1 month ago
Remember Hayden, ponting and lee had not played for a long, long time before this series, all 3 obviously in need of match fitness struggled. Roy was missing and Australia had no real spinners. I am not concerned at all.
Ponting will not be sacked, and as the New Zealand captain said, away from Indian wickets Australia are still the bench mark. Marsh and David hussey will work there way into the team. Bracken and Tait are getting stronger all the time and should of been picked. This is just another tiny hickup along the road like the 2005 ashes. We all know what the responce to that loss was..5 nil.
Sharma to me has been a terrific gain for india, he is a great talent, but a lot of the batsmen wont be around much longer, and i am unconvinced India will be a true dominant power.
I have heard all this talk before, like before the last world cup, and before the last Ashes. Australia will bounce back and dominate once again. I predict Australia will also win the next World Cup. Lets see if India can win a series away from home before we get too carried away with excitement.
from about 1 month ago
real australian cricket fan .... i truly respect ur viewpoint
it was my opinion dude... they didnt do well n so no excuse. Ponting and Hayden didnt play for long . agreed. but then after they played two tests( that should be good warmup) they still struggled
...... still they have no quality spinners, jason is only 1 match old though.
Bracken and Tait are awesome... but Lee is far better and he was here....
except for VVS and Sachin everyone are young , fit and promising and Indian bowlers are one of the best in the world... no doubt about that
still Australia is the best, India is far improving ..... until Aus beats India w
about 1 month ago
Yes i agree with that mostly. Lee was struggling with personal issues... like his wife leaving him. he has not shown anything like his top form for a year i'd say. Punter was always going to struggle, he looked shakey even in his 100. But Hayden had two poor decisions early so no chance to find form there, and look ...anyone who had 6 months out of the game is not going to find form in 2, 3 or 4 tests, espeshily in India.
I agree we had no spinner, that was the problem. But no excuses, we lost, it happens. However the point i am making is, we will bounce back strongly, and that series wont worrey the team much at all.
VVS and Sachin as well as Ganguly and Dravid are old. However i rate Sharma as one of the best young talents in the world.
But you are very welcome to your opinion, thats what this site is all about. I appreciate your remarks.
from about 1 month ago
thanks mate.........
lets just wait n watch
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