HISTORY FAVOURS HOSTS INDIA AS TEAM FROM DOWN UNDER BEGIN MIND GAMES BEFORE TOUGH SERIES

Sunny’s almighty strop Tendulkar out ‘shoulder before wicket’ ‘Monkeygate’ erupts Kohli shows the middle finger

ndia has been an unconquered frontier for many cricket teams over the years and it will be no different this time for Australia. The team from Down Under have found it difficult to stamp their authority on the subcontinent wickets, despite being the invincibles with the likes of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and the legendary spinner Shane Warne in their ranks some years ago.

Barring one occasion when Australians managed to win the series, the Gavaskar-Border trophy has mostly remained with hosts India. The Steve Smith-led team has not left a single stone unturned in terms of preparation as they embark on a tough series, especially after being blanked 4-0 in the four-Test series during their previous visit.

The Aussies had a long preparatory camp in Dubai on subcontinental type of wickets at the ICC academy. Indian skipper Virat Kohli who has been in the form of his life with four consecutive double-centuries in four series — surpassing even the great Sir Don Bradman and Rahul Dravid — and top spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are the two players Australia will be wary of.

The Australians, like in the past, have already started mindgames ahead of the series by creating doubts in the two player’s minds or by elevating them to an iconic status.

While former Australian captain Steve Waugh, who was a master tactician during his playing days, has branded Ashwin the ‘Bradman of bowling’ before the start of the series, coach Darren Lehmann says they have identified a few chinks in Kohli’s armour, which they would expose with the help of Mitchell Starc.

In this backdrop, Gulf News takes a look at the key battles set to unfold from today with the beginning of the first Test at a new venue in Pune. Runsthe Indiancaptain hasscoredin 37matches acrossallformats in2016

The lanky left-arm seamer is the general leading his bowling troops against ‘king’ Virat Kohli. Starc has an added advantage of playing with the Indian skipper for many years at Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League. Though it is a different ballgame in Tests — quite literally as the red cherry may not produce the same bounce and swing like the white ball does — but playing someone regularly at the nets will give them an insight into each other’s strengths and weakness.

Adding a different perspective to the clash is that both players are entering wicketsin45Test matchesatan averageof25.04

An intriguing battle is on the cards between a batsman who is a good player of spin bowling and uses his feet whenever the ball is given flight and the world’s best spinner, who became the fastest bowler to reach 250 Test wickets in record 45 Tests. Ashwin is a difficult bowler to face on wickets that offer even a slight turn as well given the extra bounce he derives due to his height. The variety he possesses up his sleeve also makes him a difficult customer to read.

On the other hand, Smith, who is one of the two mainstays of Australian batting with David Warner, will need to find his top gear and the Australian wickets left-arm has the so far pacer taken his 34 in Tests the contest on different note. While Kohli has struck a purple patch, Starc is returning from a ghastly injury suffered to his leg while fielding and has only played in a few Tests in Australia since his return. Indian wickets, however, might be a lot drier and flatter, hence Starc has to rely on reverse swing. But with the ball not coming on to the bat as he would like, Kohli should have enough time to negate the reverse swing. The pacer needs to cope with the hot and humid weather and hence needs to bowl shorter spells, which will give Kohli a breather to get on top of his game. captain will not shy away from going on the attack against India’s ace spinner. Though Smith and Ashwin too play in the same IPL team Pune Supergiants, the wily off-spinner has not given Smith too much insight into his bowling as he was ‘accused’ of only bowling leg spin to Smith in the nets.

However, Smith who himself began his career as a leg-spinner, is a shrewd batsman and a captain to adapt to conditions quickly, which he proved by scoring a century against the India A team in the only warm-up match so far. Ashwin’s impeccable control over his line and length, however, will make it a contest of wits. Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar suffered a massive meltdown during the 1981 Melbourne Test when he threatened to forfeit the match after being given out lbw on 70 off Australian great Dennis Lillee. He was adamant the ball had hit his bat first and remonstrated with both Lillee and the umpire before instructing fellow opener Chetan Chauhan to leave with him. A swift intervention from then Indian manager Shahid Durrani prevented Chauhan from leaving the field which would have resulted in the visitors conceding the match.

Indian fans still rage about an umpiring decision during the 1999 Adelaide Test that saw the great Sachin Tendulkar dismissed effectively for “shoulder before wicket”. The ‘Little Master’ — who stands at 5ft 4in — attempted to duck a Glenn McGrath bouncer, only for the ball to keep low and hit his left shoulder. Home umpire Daryl Harper had no hesitation in giving Tendulkar out lbw. Some replays suggested the ball may have clipped the top of the stumps but most were inconclusive.

Ganguly keeps Waugh waiting

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly enraged his opposite number Steve Waugh during India’s 2001 tour Down Under by turning up late for the toss. Waugh wrote in his autobiography that he was “wound up” by the left-handed batsman’s “continued petulance”. Years later, Ganguly, nicknamed the Prince of Kolkata revealed that he turned up a few minutes late to teach the Aussies a lesson for their rude behaviour.

The 2008 New Year Test in Sydney was undoubtedly the lowest point in India-Australia cricket relations. After a string of questionable umpiring decisions and on-field altercations, the “Monkeygate” scandal erupted — almost causing the tour to be called off. Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds accused spinner Harbhajan Singh of calling him a “monkey”. Singh was suspended for three matches for the alleged racist slur. The ban was overturned when India threatened to quit the tour, claiming Singh had been wrongly accused.

Four years after “Monkeygate” came “Fingergate” when a young and angry Virat Kohli let the rowdy Sydney Test crowd get to him. Kohli who was fielding in the deep got rile up by unpleasant chants from the fans and responded by flashing the middle finger. It was caught on camera and Kohli was fined 50% of his match fee.