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Home > Cricket > Columns > Guest Column
February 24, 2001
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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!

Editor's note: Rediff believes that like its own editorial staffers, readers too have points of view on the many issues relating to cricket as it is played.

Therefore, Rediff provides in its editorial section space for readers to write in, with their views. The views expressed by the readers are carried as written, in order to preserve the original voice.

However, it needs mentioning that guest columns are opinion pieces, and reflect only the feelings of the individual concerned -- the fact that they are published on Rediff's cricket site does not amount to an endorsement by the editorial staff of the opinions expressed in these columns.

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