Am not a die hard cricket fan. But this test series had me glued to the television and the online score cards. I had a highly jaded perspective of the Indian team, which was plagued by politics and money. From the beggining I was damn sure that Indians would be wiped out with the bowling attack of Lee and Gillespie. Our team proved it wrong. They proved that they can play without the might of Tendulkar. They literally thrashed the Aussie bowling attack. Commendable performance. The men who drew the attention in this series :
Rahul Dravid : Undoubtedly, regained his position as one of the best test batsmen in the world in the ranks of Ponting and Lara. Extremely stylish batsman. His strokes were a feast to the eyes. He lived up to that Hutch ad :). He stood undettered, when the team needed him the most, played a higly responsible innings every match. No doubt, he was the Man of the Series.
VVS Laxman : I had no appreciation for this man, before this series began. He was just an item of mockery in all our discussions, but what a turn around he did for the team. Absolutely mind blowing strokes all across the stadium, esp in the Sydney Test. Not a single irresponsible stroke, fantastic batting. Geoffrey says, "when u face a bowler bowling at 140 kmph and just slice the ball to the boundary with the least possible effort, do u expect the bowler not to be demoralised'. Thats what Laxman did, pure timing and accuracy were the key to his success.
Irfan Pathan : That yorker to Adam Gilchrist, in the Sydney test just explains the talent of this young man. This young bowler, won the accolades of every commentator in the final test. Deliveries of perfect line and length. His style is very similar to that of Akram. A talented young bowler who needs to mature a bit.
Ricky Ponting : One of the most respected players in test cricket. 2 double centuries to his credit in this series, he is simply an adorable player. Playing in absolute style and stamina, he ripped the Indian bowling attack. Some of his on-side shots were mind blowing. He proved his ability to take on the team leadership from Steve Waugh.
Steve Waugh : Need I say something about this guy. The 'ice cool' guy as he is fondly called, lived upto his name. Though he didnt play a great innings throughout, his final innings at SCG was a class of its own. Any loose delivery will be sent to the fence. Apparently sunny said that was bcause of the bad field setting by Ganguly . C'mon thats bieng pessimistic. The respect the cricketing world has for this man is awesome. Very touching moments in cricket as he bid adeiu, and each and every cricketer who went to the podium had words of praise for him.
The camraderie shown by both the teams were awesome. Lee apologizing to Dravid for that bouncer, Lee congratulating Tendulkar for his double century, Ponting bieng congratulated by Indians on reaching his double century, Langer taking a catch in the slip and declaring it not out as it had hit the ground, these were some of the incidents that showed the respect both the teams had for each other. The final test was somehow marred by bad umpiring. Keeping that aside, it was a fantastic test series, although it ended in a draw. One of the most memorable cricket series in my life.
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