I watched nearly every ball played by Phillip Hughes in his last dozen Test match innings and while he wasn't the most attractive to watch, his fighting attitude and effort was always admirable even when out of his depth. Unlike many of the authors of pieces written since his tragic death, I wasn't of the opinion that Hughes would go on to become a consistently good Test match player but we will of course never find out now.
His shadow will mark this series now especially given that he might have featured in the first Test and who knows where things would have headed then? It makes writing a series preview hard as well and maybe I'll feel like doing a proper one only after the cricket has begun and taken us past the first Test. Hughes' absence will make the Australian team doubly determined to win and win well especially at the SCG. They were strong favourites already given their recent home record and the fact that India's young line-up is still building overseas experience. Dhoni's absence from the first Test stacks the odds even more in favour of Clarke's men and I would expect a 3-0 result with anything better a bonus for India.
The last two series between these two countries had a curious symmetry to them even apart from the obvious 4-0 scorelines. Dhoni missed the last Test match in Australia and Clarke did the same in India. Both the teams took significant personnel hits after the losses, with Dravid and Laxman calling it a day for India and for the Aussies, Mickey Arthur was given the boot (though Matthew Wade and Ed Cowan have also lost ground since). Virat Kohli stood tall amidst the ruins of the Indian batting down under and Steven Smith did the same in India and the two are now arguably their team's main batsmen as well as captains-in-waiting.
The contests were sorely lacking in both those series though, especially after the first three days or so of the first Test. Hopefully that can change in this round even if the results don't surprise. India go in with many more question marks especially around the top order batting and the spin bowling but Australia too have some answers to find. Harris, Haddin, and Rogers will not last much longer and the replacements are not obvious. Two allrounders might be too many to play and Peter Siddle is showing slow but sure signs of becoming the next Ishant Sharma. Nathan Lyon will also be on notice especially with another Ashes series coming up. And will their two left arm bombers, Warner and Johnson be able to continue their astonishing run of form from last season?
For India, any improvements shown by Kohli, Pujara, and Dhawan from their form in England will be a big plus and crucial to their future, especially for the Delhi opener. The same is true for Shami among the bowlers and Bhuvneshwar's injury gives him some breathing space and probably a couple of Tests at least. Dhoni will also hope that his relative consistency and that of Vijay, Rahane, and Ishant Sharma continues. In my view though, the biggest disappointment from India overseas since 2011 has been their spin bowling and it would be good to see Karn Sharma given a good go in this series. He surely can't do much worse than Ashwin or Jadeja have done.
Whether these answers come through or not though, it will be good to have cricket going again. As Clarke said, that's what Hughes would have wanted and its the least the players owe one of their brethren.
His shadow will mark this series now especially given that he might have featured in the first Test and who knows where things would have headed then? It makes writing a series preview hard as well and maybe I'll feel like doing a proper one only after the cricket has begun and taken us past the first Test. Hughes' absence will make the Australian team doubly determined to win and win well especially at the SCG. They were strong favourites already given their recent home record and the fact that India's young line-up is still building overseas experience. Dhoni's absence from the first Test stacks the odds even more in favour of Clarke's men and I would expect a 3-0 result with anything better a bonus for India.
The last two series between these two countries had a curious symmetry to them even apart from the obvious 4-0 scorelines. Dhoni missed the last Test match in Australia and Clarke did the same in India. Both the teams took significant personnel hits after the losses, with Dravid and Laxman calling it a day for India and for the Aussies, Mickey Arthur was given the boot (though Matthew Wade and Ed Cowan have also lost ground since). Virat Kohli stood tall amidst the ruins of the Indian batting down under and Steven Smith did the same in India and the two are now arguably their team's main batsmen as well as captains-in-waiting.
The contests were sorely lacking in both those series though, especially after the first three days or so of the first Test. Hopefully that can change in this round even if the results don't surprise. India go in with many more question marks especially around the top order batting and the spin bowling but Australia too have some answers to find. Harris, Haddin, and Rogers will not last much longer and the replacements are not obvious. Two allrounders might be too many to play and Peter Siddle is showing slow but sure signs of becoming the next Ishant Sharma. Nathan Lyon will also be on notice especially with another Ashes series coming up. And will their two left arm bombers, Warner and Johnson be able to continue their astonishing run of form from last season?
For India, any improvements shown by Kohli, Pujara, and Dhawan from their form in England will be a big plus and crucial to their future, especially for the Delhi opener. The same is true for Shami among the bowlers and Bhuvneshwar's injury gives him some breathing space and probably a couple of Tests at least. Dhoni will also hope that his relative consistency and that of Vijay, Rahane, and Ishant Sharma continues. In my view though, the biggest disappointment from India overseas since 2011 has been their spin bowling and it would be good to see Karn Sharma given a good go in this series. He surely can't do much worse than Ashwin or Jadeja have done.
Whether these answers come through or not though, it will be good to have cricket going again. As Clarke said, that's what Hughes would have wanted and its the least the players owe one of their brethren.
Comments