Cricket has always been my favorite sport and i do make it a point to catch up with most of the cricket played around the world.Australia is Unarguably the best team in both shorter and longer versions of the game.I believe the transition of this Australian side from a good one to a truly world class one didnt happen overnight.It was the result of some good foresight,competitive domestic cricket,good team management and a hell lot of hard work.
One of the reason for this to happen is that they where lucky enough to have being led by some great innovative captains.Allen Border was a great leader but it was Mark taylor that this team went on to become a truly world class team.Apart from being a good captain, he was a very good opening batsmen and a superb slip fielder.Steve waugh took over the reigns of captaincy after Mark retired and but by then he already had a bunch of outstanding talent under his belt.Under Steve waugh the team reached even higher peaks and went on to create a world record of 16 consecutive test victories.This Unbeaten streak was ended in Eden garden, Calcutta where V.V.S laxman and Harbhajan singh put on the performances of thier lifetime.They also won the world cup in 99 under Waugh. And when Rickey Ponting took over from waugh, he had to carry forward this legacy for a long time.Ponting achieved great success as one-day captain by winning the world cup in England. He delivered one of his great performances to beat India in the finals.The 2005 ashes was the best ashes i've ever seen in my life.England won that Ashes and ponting was under immense pressure.They came back strongly next year where they thrashed England 5-0.Now in the recently ended Ashes series England won again and Aussies came back by winning 6-1 in the ODI series. People doubted an Australian team without McGrath,Shane warne,Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden.But who cares.... Aussies won the Challengers trophy in great style. And now Team India cant beat an injury struck aussie team too.We must remind one thing, 'Sportsmen are'nt meant to be movie stars even if our country treats them like that'.Team India are a bunch of great players but they fails to play as a team.Indian team has all the talent but they lack in ATTITUDE.They are pessimistic about their chances always.thier thinking is also shambolic.I admire Ricky's men.just one word "AWESOME".I thought we may lose the series at nagpur but what a comeback..?? And do remember we are missing key players like Micheal clarke,Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken,James Hopes, Tim Payne, Peter Siddle( after the first two matches) etc..
And one point which which always confuses me is that How come Virat Kohli play in a team which has no space for the most talented batsman in India, Rohit Sharma??
One of the interesting comments that came from one of the commentators the last day... It was quite a supreme comment....Here it is....
They were a TEAM. We are a very good team. If a player is out (in this case heaps of players), the rest of the team consolidates. India's problem is that they are not a team and haven't been for a while. There are some great cricketing players there but there's not a team.As the old football maxim goes: "A CHAMPION TEAM WILL ALWAYS BEAT A TEAM OF CHAMPIONS".
