India inflicted a "Brownwash" on the Australians! And Sachin Tendulkar was living a dream!
1991-92
Almost twenty years back, on the eve of the Benson & Hedges Cricket World Cup of 1992 held in Australia & New Zealand, India toured down under for a five match test series. India went there with a team which looked a great mix of youth and experience lead by an inspirational Azharuddin who was in his 2nd season as the captain. India lost the series 4-0 and drew a game at Sydney, thanks to Shastri’s double hundred and a fine 148 by Tendulkar who was only 2 years old in international cricket. Seniors in the team; Kapil, Vengsarkar, Srikkanth came a cropper. India succumbed to the pace and accuracy of McDermott, Mike Whitney, Bruce Reid & Merv Hughes. The Sydney draw saved India of a highly possible “whitewash”.
1999-00
Similarly, in the Australian summer of 1999, India toured down under with Tendulkar as their captain. They then depended on a flat track bully Devang Gandhi and a stiff Sadagopan Ramesh to give the starts against a rampaging Aussie pace attack of McGrath, Gillespie, Brett Lee and Warne to lend spin support. Indians, not even in one game posted a 400+ score. Batsmen with the exception of Tendulkar looked awry. Even Dravid and Ganguly looked uncomfortable and failed to make an impact. The test series was lost 3-0, whitewashed by the Aussies. That hurt!
Circa 2010
Ricky Ponting came to India looking to conquer his final frontier; to win a test in the land he could never win in as a captain even with the best team at his command in 2004. He lost 0-2 in a four match series in 2007. This time he came with a team that didn’t look even a shadow of what his previous two teams in 2004 and 2007 were. Ten absolutely fantastic days of Cricket later, India achieved what we last did to a top test playing nation in 1993 to England; we “brownwashed” Australia. The hurt we bore in 1991-92 and 1999-00 was cooled by some finery by Indians throughout the series. Neither team could claim ownership or dominance of a day’s play in either test match except for the last days of both matches which India galloped away with. Thats how closely contested the series was. An area where India convincingly outdid Australia was their resilience to fight it out in testing times; something Indian teams in the past were guilty of lacking. Marcus North’s career saving ton, Mitchell Johnson’s five wicket haul, Watson’s century, Ponting’s three half centuries; all were performances that required an “X Factor” effort to yield results. Zaheer’s eight wicket haul in the first test, Laxman’s splendid match winning 73*, captain Dhoni’s move to send a debutant at no 3 to save the experienced for later and the debutant; Pujara scoring an impressive 72 on the last day of the second test can all be counted as “X Factor” efforts; where the player put his hands up and played a crucial innings or bowl a match altering spell. Sachin Tendulkar though deservedly won the Man of the Series; the team did not entirely rest on him for a win. The youngsters made their place in the team count.
For Australia, their Vice Captain Micheal Clarke looked in woeful form. In Bollinger’s absence, bowling looked weak. Hauritz looked unpenetrative. Australia probably long lost their test dominance, but falling to the depths of being brownwashed would bring up serious concerns in their camp for England looks in fine rhythm to retain the urn when they travel down under this winter. And for India, though the win can be rejoiced over a long time, well begun is only half done. To keep the no 1 test team tag they will have to tame the Kiwis at home and the Proteas in their own backyard.
