Uneasy calm before Melbourne Storm

Less than 24 hours before the mega-showdown at Melbourne, nostalgia, serenity, and a sense of history enveloped Indian newspapers, succinctly described by a headline in the Times of India, calling it ‘’calm before the storm’’.

There was also an interesting piece of statistics which said Australia have won each of their last eight matches on this ground beginning with that thumping 180-run win against India in 1999. India were whitewashed 0-3 in the 1999 series – a result ‘predicted’ by the then BCCI secretary Mr Lele even before the series had started!

For India too, this is their most successful ground in Australia as they have won two matches against Australia here, the last one being that famous almost ‘walk over’ match when under Gavaskar’s leadership, Ghavri and Kapil’s heroics with the ball helped India defend a meager total and beat Greg Chappell-led Australia.

The Hindustan times had an article ‘’Bowl India Bowl..Fast’, where the writer tried to convince that ‘’given the general lack of success that finger spinners have had in Australia, a lot is going to depend on India’s pacemen.

However, her opinion goes against what many experts believe. There looks to be a general consensus among many ex-players that India must carry their best attack on this ground even if they have to have two spinners.

They believe the ground will assist spin and help India if Australia play the fourth innings with marginally defendable total. Even Australia will bank on Hogg, a relatively inexperienced spinner, to make inroads in the absence of McGill.

Yesterday, even Ponting and Gilchrist had come out in support of Hogg.An interesting item in the Indian Express was on Gujarati community. They were full of admiration for Indian cricketers, little disappointed that fellow Gujarati Parthiv Patel was not there, and celebrated the re-election of Narendra Modi!

But come tomorrow, the politics of cricket will take the centrestage among the Indians and Modi will be forgotten. As of now, both the teams look eager to take the field. While Ganguly has remarked that he is not feeling any pressure as he goes for this century, Clarke is adamant that Australia will put the pressure back on the Indians.

It is indeed uneasy calm before the storm. In the battle of words, Indians have so far proved to be equal to the Australians. Come tomorrow, and they will be eager to back their words with action.

Meanwhile, Below is the link to Christmas and New Year wishes, which I have prepared for friends and readers of this blog.http://spiritualsolace.blogspot.com/2007/12/may-this-christmas-and-new-year-endow.html

Miandad has interesting tips for India

Media Watch, Dec 23

The former Pakistan coach and one of world’s most resilient player, he says in an interview to the Indian Express that ‘’it is (beating Australia in Australia) a tough task no doubt. But by saying that it is the toughest, you have just made it tougher than it is.’’

That is the best tip someone could have given to the Indian side. Javed has very encouraging words for the Indian team as he says that ‘’I personally do not think that it is as tough as it is being made out to be, especially considering the strength and form of the Indian side at the moment.’’

A report in the Times of India had Tendulkar saying that India have got what it takes to win the test series in Australia, but he also cautioned batsmen to be ‘’little more careful with shot selection.’’ He also said that some ‘’mental adjustments’’ were needed on this tour.

In fact, everyone is talking about the strength of the Indian batting, and that includes Australian past greats and current cricketers. They believe that India have it in them to put it across Australia. That is also representative of the cordial manner in which the series will be fought and lack of hostility should certainly help India as much as the absence of Warne and McGrath.

Australia new coach Tim Nielsen believes that ‘’The older players (in Indian team) know how to pace themselves. As you get older it is easier to lay the big games for you know how to play and recover. The same holds good for India’s top players,’’ he says.

If their reflexes manage to judge the Australian pace the same way as they did last time, India should be able to give a tough challenge. Win or lose, the fight must be good

Warne on Tendulkar

A headline in Hindustan times today said ‘’Warne Backs Tendulkar to score heavily’’

Just because he is old does not mean he is finished, said Warne. Well, that is something every Indian knows Mr Warne. We all have tried our best to finish him off (Including this scribe on the blog) but he has survived both verbal and on-field yorkers!

Coming back to Warne, and his line of reasoning: Both Tendulkar’s genius and the fact that Wickets in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide are going to be pretty flat.

If Tendulkar does play two–three special knocks, it will set up India really well. But one of them must come at Melbourne.