At long last, we’ve arrived at the eve of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, or ‘BGT’ as it is now billed. I’d still prefer to think of it just as the Australia Tour. The award for best series name was already won about 150 years ago (who knew burnt wood was going to be, and stay, so incredibly sexy??!!), so we should just stop trying.
Indians will be going to bed tonight with a lately unfamiliar dread in their stomachs. That is testament to the golden period we have enjoyed since the first series win on Australian soil 5 years ago, delivered by several of the cricketers who will be taking the field at Perth tomorrow. But it is hard to remember an Indian team that seemed this battered and bruised. There are, among others, a captain conspicuous by (a wholly justified) absence resulting in the deputy - a smiley Jasprit Bumrah - taking charge; a severely depleted Virat Kohli; injured Gill, Rahul; comeback man Rishabh Pant who may just have one eye on the farcically-timed IPL auction; old hands Ashwin-Jadeja fresh off the unenviable task of having to try and cover up the woes of an imploding batting order (they failed); a subdued Siraj; and save for Washington Sundar and Yashasvi Jaiswal who have by now seen a bit of Test cricket, a band of rather franchise-looking-and-sounding youngsters who, a few weeks hence, may be winning unimaginable glory, or indelibly scarred by a relentless and unforgiving trial by fire Down Under.
Yeah, it’s not looking so good.
Don’t get me wrong, I have - as you should, if you are an Indian fan - resolved to watch and / or follow each match to even the bitter end, if there is one. If there’s ever a tour to savour, it is this one - the first of many lasts for several players, the last to include at least a couple from a pre-IPL generation. Tours of Australia don’t require much advertising to be considered magical: there is something just so pure about waking up early, teeth chattering in the December cold, and watching your team slug it out in crisp whites on the endless, verdant outfields of Australia. But add to that the expectation of winning?!?! We have been thoroughly spoilt by this team in the last near-decade, and now we must pay it forward as it undergoes a painful transition.
But still, romance of the tour aside, it is just odd to see an Indian touring squad seem this shaky. Practice behind closed doors. Warm-up match cancelled. Intra-squad match cancelled. Unnecessarily snarky press conference by deservedly under-fire coach. More chatter about India by Australian players and media than the Indian machinery. It does not augur well for a long summer ahead, and the first 5-match Test series India are playing in a while.
Of course, much of this vulnerability is attributable to the drubbing India received at home at the hands of a very demure New Zealand side just about 3 weeks ago. The annihilation was so complete that it instantly shattered every last shred of the aura of invincibility the team had painstakingly built up over so many years. In all likelihood, that aura will soon be regained at home, and comprehensively at that. This one-off series loss will surely be put to bed with some near-believable justification for the stumble (let us collectively confess that while that catch by Suryakumar Yadav was being adjudicated, we all prayed some version of “pls pls World Cup, lose whatever after this”). But that home whitewash seems to have immediately resurrected memories of the Bad Ol’ Days abroad.
You know the ones. No? Let me remind you. Plot twist - it wasn’t even abroad.
On a chilly November morning in 2008, I piled into a large car with a group of friends to attend my first ever day of Test cricket at the Feroze Shah Kotla. It was Day 4. India were largely in control, having piled on 613/7d in the first innings. Australia ended Day 3 at 338/4. I believe we picked Day 4 in expectation of the match rattling towards an inevitable conclusion. But Michael John Clarke had other plans. Batting overnight on 21, he proceeded to put together a patient, masterful century that bored us to tears while India toiled, and toiled, and toiled in the field. Any fizz seemed to have evaporated from the pitch. The frontline bowlers looked tired and listless. Any hopes of an Australian capitulation faded as the day wore on. Virender Sehwag emerged as the joker in India’s pack, taking an unexpected 5-fer. After Australia were finally dismissed for 577, bringing temporary cheer to the fatigued crowd, Brett Lee promptly knocked Sehwag over, and golden boy Clarke summarily dismissed nightwatchman Ishant Sharma. The one and only silver lining for us was watching Rahul Dravid stride solemnly in and cream a gorgeous cover drive off Simon Katich to end the day unbeaten on 5 (he would be dismissed for 11 early on Day 5).
It was a Bad Ol’ Grind Day: one that I in particular will never forget, but the kind slightly older Indian fans are only too familiar with. It is just a thousand times worse when you’re watching it happen at 6.50am IST, shaking your head and grumbling to yourself while getting ready for work or school.
It has been a long while since we’ve seen such grind days in general, in no small part due to the impact of T20 cricket on Tests, and the preparation of result-oriented wickets all across the world. Nevertheless, this is the first time in years that even the thought of being at the receiving end of such a day has crossed my mind.
If the last Test match India won in Australia is anything to go by, they have almost an embarrassment of riches going into this series, with almost all first-choice players fit and available. But one can’t help but feel that the series will turn on where this brittle-looking side lands on the mental front. In recent years, India abroad - win or lose - have been all about brash aggression, and at home: smug, well-deserved swagger. With the home confidence vanquished earlier this month, how will India respond in this most challenging of overseas environments, with the Australians - having so deftly deflected all scrutiny away from themselves - expected to breathe fire from the word go?
I daresay we’ll have a fair sense by this time tomorrow.