1-0 UP BUT STILL A LONG WAY TO GO!

From the days of Lillee and Thommo to the glorious days of Warne and Mcgrath and to a more recent whitewash in 2011-12, Australians have always dominated India in Australia. But this time and for the very first time, an Indian team was labelled as favourites to win in Australia. After watching Steve Smith and David Warner do what they did, it was very clear that they would struggle to be available to play against India and that was a massive dent in Australia's hopes rather than a boost to India's confidence because I think this Indian team is good enough to beat Australia with Smith and Warner playing. Indian batters had a decent outing in the practice game but the bowlers got some bashing from a pretty inexperienced batting line up. But came the Adelaide test and boy, didn't they turn up! Indian bowlers were magnificent and if it wasn't for them, there was no way India were getting a 15 run lead in the first place. Cheteshwar Pujara again proved his worth in this team with probably one of the best innings of his life. His 123 in the first innings turned the match on its head. India looked set to finish with a score that would have been well below par but Pujara with the help of tailenders got the crucial runs to drag India to 250. Ishant was probing all the way, Bumrah was nasty and hitting 150 clicks at times while Ashwin toiled hard and kept one end tight. Shami was blowing hot and going cold as always is the case with him but he was handy as well in the 2nd innings so it was almost a complete bowling performance from India except the fact that the tailenders again proved difficult to be removed becsuse the match should't have ended as close as it did. Indian batting collapse in the 2nd innings is also a bit of a worry becsuse in the position they were in, India should have batted Australia out of the game and should have set a target of around 400 which would have been way beyond Australia's reach.
     But this is the first time I remember that India have won a test abroad without playing the perfect game. In this year only, India dominated throughout the test matches when they won in Johannesburg and Trent Bridge. This surely wasn't a complete performance but this extremely vulnerable Australian batting line up helped India a great deal. But we all know-"These Aussies never give up!" and how perfectly the last 2 hours of the test match summed up this statement! Cummins and Starc are capable batsmen so they were expected to hand around and they did! Lyon is not great defensively but he is a mighty tough character and a gritty cricketer and didn't he brought out some emotions out of Virat Kohli! Although he is better than our number 11, Hazlewood isn't the one you would trust on 364 days of a year but he was playing Ashwin and Bumrah as he was batting there all day. This is the character and fight everyone expects from any Australian team and this side is no different.
    Virat Kohli's burst of emotions after the final wicket summed up what it meant to him as a captain. Having experienced what it feels like being on the other side of the result 4 years ago after smashing 141 in a massive run chase, ending up on the better side of the result this time around must be the greatest feeling of all. Adelaide has been a happy hunting ground for 'The King'. Though he didn't quite turn up with the bat in this test match, Adelaide owed him something and it is very pleasing that it has gifted him back a test victory!