PTI Photo by Atul Yadav It was the same old story at Holkar stadium in Indore as India defeated Australia by five wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match one-day series. This was also India’s ninth consecutive limited overs victory and it propelled India to No 1 in the ICC ODI rankings. The match, which promised so much played to the script as Australia after winning the toss started well, but then lost momentum at crucial stage and couldn’t stop India’s juggernaut and have now lost their last 11 completed away one day matches.
The men in blue in this series have fought well from difficult conditions and situations and the third one-dayer was no different as Australia at one stage were looking at the score in region of 350, riding on Aaron Finch’s eighth ton (124 off 125 balls) and captain Steven Smith’s 63. But, Indian bowlers, as they have done so many times in this series pulled back the Aussie innings and restricted them to 293/6. India, while chasing kept their composure and with Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Hardik Pandya chipping in with half centuries, the target was chased comfortably in the end.
Is this the worst Australian team to tour India? What is ailing Australian cricket? What has happened to Australia’s aggression and bravado? Can this mess be fixed? This questions have been raised quite frequently in recent days not just by cricket enthusiasts, but also by experts, commentators and ex-players. Australian team over the years carried that swagger, arrogance and were always ahead of the game in many ways. The team, which used to boast players such as Donald Bradman, Dennis Lillie, Greg Chappell, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne were known for their aggression and intensity and never took a backward step in any contest and always fought till the last ball was bowled.
Coming back to the current Australian team, they look soft and are not sure of their game plan and going by this series have looked puzzled and in certain situations dumbfounded. The squad relies too much on the top three of David Warner, Aaron Finch and Steven Smith and after that there is a vacuum in the batting line up.
The bowling has been weakened by the absence of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and the continued absence of premier Test off-spinner Nathan Lyon has no doubt played a huge part in Australia’s demise. Most of the Aussie squad have been playing IPL cricket in India over the years, so the excuse of alien condition cannot be put forward. The team recently played in Bangladesh and Cricket Australia also sends it A team to sub-continent quite a few times and players are reasonably experienced in so called alien conditions.
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International cricket is a simple game, but baggy greens have made simple mistakes like not rotating the strike, smart play against spin and overall lack of game awareness. Yesteryear Aussie teams had players like Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey and had bowlers like Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillispie, Shane Warne at their disposal to tame any opposition and most importantly believed in themselves.
The current crisis in Kangaroos cricket has to be resolved through players being accountable for their performances and have to slog it out on the field. The current series has exposed a big class difference and likes of Glenn Maxwell, Peter Handscomb, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright have to learn from their mistakes and help the big guns out. Australian cricket has to do some serious soul searching and have to play brand of cricket that they are known for and again show that regal class and panache.
