Hard days ahead for the Aussies
Chinmaya Pande
The Aussies are in India. And they've come with dollops of unrestrained cockiness as excess baggage.
McGrath plans to attack Ganguly, goes to the extent of announcing in public
and also explaining why! Mind games, Ganguly-would-look-out-for-me, blah, blah. Typical cocky McGrath talk. He would be well-advised to first get a feel of the pitches and the conditions before making lofty predictions. The
way the lower order Bombay Boyz treated him in his second spell -- which
incidentally was with the new ball -- tells us that McGrath will not have it
easy as he thinks, tall poppy syndrome notwithstanding.
Sanity check time for Mr. McGrath, one reckons.
With respect to Balaji Rao's outburst against Steve Waugh, Justin Langer
talks of his much vaunted 'surprise' at viewing an opposition player not
giving the Aussie skipper enough respect. Well, going by past history, this
rule seems rather one-sided and Langer's reaction rather unwarranted.
How is that guys like McGrath always get away with disgraceful behaviour?
Like spitting towards Lara in West Indies. How come everyone looks the other
way when McGrath (yet again!) gets away with muttering a stream of
expletives at Sachin Tendulkar during the Indian tour Down Under?
Sachin, incidentally, was the skipper then -- therefore, shouldn't the same rule apply
to McGrath, that which applies to Balaji Rao now? Apparently no, if you'd
want to believe the Aussies.
Justin Langer needs to a quick reality check.
Sledging may be wrong or against the spirit of the game... whatever, but it
doesn't carry an Aussie patent. If teams are as professional as they claim
they are, they should learn to take as good as they give. Not whine at the
slightest provocation.
Steve Waugh has already laid the ground for a bitter battle ahead -- more on
the lines of covering their bases, I reckon -- when he spoke of pitch
doctoring, even before he landed in India. Theme being, if the Aussies lose
-- it would be because of the demons in the pitch. If they win -- it would be
in spite of the pitch!. One thinks the demons are more in their mind, if at
all. Pitch preparation is the prerogative of the host country, as Waugh
would well agree.
If the Australian performance is anything to go by till now, India is going
to give them a real hard time. The potency of the bowling is going to be a
question mark. Low flat bounce would reduce the likes of McGrath and
Gillespie to bending their backs more than ever. Fleming may remain a
threat, as Indians are known to be suspect against genuine swing bowling. As
for Warnie, well ....
If anything, the batting needs to be looked out for, Steve Waugh will be the
most important cog in the wheel along with Ricky Ponting and Mark Waugh who
seem to have a fancy for Indian wickets.
Inevitably across the world, Steve Waugh's current Aussie team is always
compared with Clive Lloyd's invincibles of the '70s and '80s.
One difference though. Lloyd's men reigned for close to 15 years. Waugh's
men, for nearly two. Lloyd's men spoke 'after' destroying their opposition
convincingly, Waugh's men always seem to shoot their mouths off 'before' entering a battle.
If they come off, they look good. If they don't, well, Humpty Dumpty is back
in business!
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