Battleground Down Under

India aims for a third consecutive Test series win in Australia, inspired by young talents like Jaiswal and Pant, despite recent challenges.

It took India seven decades to conquer the Frontier Down Under. That was six years ago. For Indians of an earlier vintage, the Test series in Australia were a bittersweet cycle of waiting and hurting. There was something about the long boundaries, the flight of gulls every time the ball raced to the outfield, the packed slip cordon, the fast bowlers running all through the day, the balls whizzing past batters’ helmets — did he nick it? All this, accompanied by the dreaded animation of a crying duck with the bat tucked under its wing, drew us out of bed on quilted winter mornings.

The likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill will look to pick up the mantle from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and to prove that India are in Australia not to be overwrought but to overwhelm (AFP)

From radio days featuring the fearsome strike force of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson to the televised exploits of the battle-painted Craig McDermott and the moustached Merv Hughes to the sheer accuracy and pace of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee — Australian speedsters became a part of Test cricket romanticism on the other side of the Indian Ocean. But, over time, chin music started making way for Indian teams willing to stand up and fight back. Be it Sachin Tendulkar in Perth, Sourav Ganguly in Brisbane, Rahul Dravid in Adelaide, or VVS Laxman in Sydney, their exploits started matching Aussie batting greats, the Chappells, the Waughs, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden and Steve Smith.

India won five Tests in Australia before 2018, but the hits had started coming, and that tour flicked a switch. It was Cheteshwar Pujara’s series -- he scored hundreds in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney— four years after Virat Kohli had scored four hundreds in 2014-15. India came back in 2021 and won again. This time, with a depleted side but with stand-ins standing tall. Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur, Hanuma Vihari and Mohammed Siraj did the unthinkable — backed, as always, by R Ashwin with bat and ball.

As we start another series at Perth today, can India make it three in a row? This time the squad is in transition, and the ask seems tall. The whitewash at the hands of New Zealand weighs heavy on the side. But the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Pant and Gill will look to pick up the mantle from Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and to prove that the home series loss was a blip; that India are in Australia not to be overwrought but to overwhelm. So, on quilted mornings, Indian fans will wake up again – daring, against all odds, to dream of a hat-trick.