Off Stump

MS Dhoni captained India in a Test for the first time the year that The Dark Knight was made. His journey in that format has been a real rollercoaster in the half dozen years since and he's lived Aaron Eckhart's most famous line from that film. He's led India most often, won most often and the team have hit #1 in the rankings under his stewardship. As a keeper batsman, his record is the best amongst all Indian wicketkeepers and not too shabby on the all time list for those who have kept in more than 75 matches. Yet, he will equally (and depending on who you ask, solely), be remembered for leading a team that has repeatedly gotten decimated outside Asia. Across England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the West Indies the ledger reads a pitiful 4-15 (and 7 draws). Like Bruce Wayne's alter ego though, Dhoni just carries on. He never points out the fact that he's led the team to series wins in New Zealand (only one of two Indian captains to do so) and ...

Three years ago, India came to Adelaide down 0-3 in the series, a team already beaten and demoralised. They were without Dhoni but had the experience of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Zaheer, and Gambhir to fall back on. The result though was yet another beating to complete the ignominious 0-8. The lone shining light was the chutzpah displayed by a young 23 year old who made his first overseas Test hundred. Fast forward to 2014, and India were again coming in to Adelaide having lost their last three overseas matches badly. Dhoni was missing again, the big three had all retired, and Sehwag, Zaheer, and Gambhir had drifted out of contention. The 23 year old from 2011 now had five more Test hundreds and 13 more ODI hundreds under his belt and was the stand-in captain. The end result was another defeat but different in a few ways. The bowlers struggled but kept putting in bursts of aggression. The slip catching had improved and the fielding was more athletic in general. And the bats...

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 oversea...