Anirudh Raghunath and Sudharshan R

India’s Golden Generation takes shape under Virat Kohli as India become unbeatable at home, until, the Aussies stun them at Pune.

Revenge is sweet, even more so when it’s a whitewash of Australia especially after the drubbing India had gotten in their previous series. This was the first time the Aussies faced the formidable duo of Ashwin and Jadeja on Indian soil. With 29 scalps to Ashwin and 24 to Jadeja in the series, the Aussies were truly outclassed by the sheer genius of these two. There were some glimpses of the potential of this Australian team in the first test, with Warner scoring a half century and Clarke, who at the time was in the form of his life, scoring a century. This effort, however, was in vain as MS Dhoni lit up Chepauk with a dominating double hundred, scored at a strike rate of over 80. This innings, supported by brilliant batting from Kohli and Tendulkar and Ashwin’s 12 wickets, simply blew away the Aussies.

In Hyderabad, barring a bit of a fight from the Aussies in the first innings, the match was all about Pujara’s double ton, Vijay’s resurgence and the spin twins weaving their magic yet again and it was another clinical win for the host nation. The 3rd test at Mohali saw the first day’s play washed out. Shikhar Dhawan, on debut, made up for the lost time with an aggressive 187. This match was closer than the first two, but with Vijay scoring runs for fun, the tweakers doing their thing – India sealed the series with another win. The only significance of the final test at Delhi was whether India could complete their whitewash – which they eventually did, with yet another dominant display – thereby handing the visitors their first series whitewash in 50 years, in a series of 3 or more tests.

Virat Kohli had emerged as India’s all format superstar by 2014, and when India traveled to England, he was expected to be amongst the runs. However, he had a horrendous series, and the Indian team lost their way after taking a lead in the series to be drubbed 3-1. Four months later though, it was a turnaround for the ages. Virat was made stand-in captain for the first test at Adelaide in the absence of Dhoni, and he led from the front with twin tons. Set a target of 364, India famously went for the win, but fell short despite a brilliant fourth innings ton from their skipper. Kohli would go on to score four tons in the series, and it is not wrong to say that this series saw the true emergence of Virat Kohli, the test batsmen overseas. He blew away his critics in the longest format of the game. But lo and behold, the hosts had a bloke named Steven Smith, who had debuted as leggie who could bat – and he would go on to score four tons as well, out-scoring Kohli.

Although the final result reads 2-0 in favor of Australia, this was a closely fought series. Apart from the batting magic from Smudge (Smith) and Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane established himself as a solid and dependable middle order batsman, especially overseas, and M Vijay was among the runs again, amassing 400 runs. The Aussie attack was spearheaded by Ryan Harris, who along with Johnson, was deadly good, but man, Kohli really did take them to the cleaners. Intense sledging and an electric buzz were a part and parcel of this series. What stood out was how neither team backed down from the challenge and just seemed to up the ante. Who can forget those stares that Kohli gave Johnson or that counter attacking knock of 88 from Johnson at the Gabba after Rohit sledged him. This series was also some sort of redemption for Ashwin, who was more effective with subtle variations in his technique, after a rather dismal tour of England. Yes, India lost the series, but it was just one bad session which proved decisive in most of the games, and as we all know, cricket is indeed a cruel and competitive game and even a single extra run can prove very expensive (like the CWC’19 final). By the end of this series, MS Dhoni and Michael Clarke, legends in their own right, had stepped aside, and a new generation of leaders – Virat Kohli and Steve Smith took charge.

India would go on to become the World No.1 ranked test team under Virat’s leadership in late 2016, and they were having a tremendous home season when the Aussies arrived in early 2017. Drama. High intensity. Exchange of words. Tempers flaring. And bloody good cricket. This series had it all. India rolled out a rank turner at Pune, but Steve O Keefe came out of syllabus, as he scalped 12 wickets to hand a crushing defeat – their first at home in over four years. It seemed as though Australia had finally managed to conquer their demons from their previous tour of India and had come up with their own spin twins – O’Keefe and Lyon. The Indian batting looked clueless against this duo, as 8 of them fell to Lyon’s magic in the first innings in Bengaluru. Just when Australia were in a commanding position, Ishant Sharma – bowling a long dry spell, and engaging in hilarious exchanges with Steve Smith, struck a crucial blow at the stroke of Lunch on Day 2. Now it was the turn of Ashwin and Jadeja to show just why they are the most dangerous spin combination in world cricket. Ably supported by Umesh Yadav, they limited the Australian lead. Steve Smith had his infamous brain fade in this game. Rahul, in the first innings, and Pujara in the second innings, made valuable contributions with the bat, and then Ashwin spun his web as India registered a comeback victory, leveling the series.

India rolled out a flat deck at Ranchi – Steve Smith was amongst the runs, scoring 150+, and with contributions from Maxwell and Renshaw, Australia posted 450. In reply, Pujara made a double ton, and with contributions from Rahul, Vijay and Saha, India responded with 600+ as the match ended in a draw. The teams moved to Dharamshala for the series decider. Bam! Curveball. India were going in without their captain who was injured. The game was quite even at the end of the first innings, where Kuldeep starred for India with a brilliant spell. Ghosts of the past came to mind when India had lost many games from such positions due to one bad passage of play. Come the second innings, Umesh Yadav was on song. His fiery opening spell set the tone, and the hosts were all over the Aussies. India didn’t have much trouble chasing down the target, and they completed a memorable series win. For the visitors though, this series was very different from their previous tour, as they went back with a lot of positives.

Australia had competed hard in India, even won a test, but it had been a decade since India last won a test in Australia. This team under Virat Kohli had become so dominant at home, that only overseas wins would be considered a success. Given the conditions on offer, and the sheer quality of opposition, a series win in Australia would naturally be the pinnacle of success for India. The emergence of Bumrah – the test seamer would give India hope of winning in Australia when they toured the pacific nation in December 2018.

To be Continued..