In many ways, this series has represented both the best oftimes and the worst of times

05-Jan-2000In many ways, this series has represented both the best oftimes and the worst of times. Well nearly anyway, forAustralia has played about as well as might be expected andthe Indians have been about as poor by comparison. It wasfar from a surprise then that this was yet again the generalformula in accordance with which matters transpired on thethird day of the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, atthe very end of which the tourists plunged to defeat by aninnings and 141 runs.For those who may have expected a more competitive andenthralling series, it also sadly served as yet anothercelebration of the twin abilities of Australia’s batsmen to taketoll of flagging attacks and for its own bowlers to work theirway through an opposing batting list. Nevertheless, there wassome time for three significant individual highlights all thewhile – Justin Langer chalking up several notable feats inthe course of scoring his first Test double century, RickyPonting making an excellent century of his own and VVSLaxman registering his maiden Test hundred in bravelyinspiring manner. There were also several bizarre curiositieslate in the day – foremost among them a decision by UmpiresIan Robinson and Darrell Hair to grant the Australians anextra half hour at the end of the day to complete their seventhsuccessive Test victory.These seven and a half hours began amid brilliant sunshinewith Australia again on the offensive with the bat. Around tworun out chances which were badly fluffed by Rahul Dravid,Langer (223) and Ponting (141*) indeed opened in lucentstyle. In front of a crowd delighting in their dominance,Ponting was the chief architect of a run-spree in the courseof which seventy-two runs were plundered in the first hour ofproceedings and the rate rarely slowed thereafter.Even by Langer’s own admission, his was far from a greatinnings in terms of substance and, by its end, it had becomedifficult not to recognise the impact of a string of closedecisions (at least four – at 7, 22, 25 and 55 – springing tomind immediately) that had gone in his favour. But one cannot deny him considerable plaudits for his effort. It wasanother performance among many from him in recent seasonswhich offered a great testament to his powers ofconcentration, his reserves of energy and his ability to taketoll of a labouring attack. Confirmation of the impact of theinnings came in the notion that his is now the highest scoreever made by an Australian against India, exceeding the 213made by former captain Kim Hughes in 1980/81. What wasadditionally only the fifth ever double century by anAustralian against this foe ultimately finished twenty minutesbefore lunch when he launched a tired off drive at the gentleoff spin of Sachin Tendulkar but succeeded only in lofting ashort distance to the right of Venkatesh Prasad at extracover.Whilst clearly not as productive, Ponting also performed asuperb job for his team. Continuing a stellar run which hasseen him now score three hundreds (ironically after threesuccessive ducks!) in the space of four Tests, the young righthander incorporated sparkling power and timing in what wasan excellent all round exhibition. His century, which camewhen he delightfully drove a Tendulkar delivery to the longon fence, was indeed in many ways significantly moreimpressive than the one made by Langer.Once Langer was out, Ponting and Adam Gilchrist (45*) thenpermitted themselves the luxury of accumulating some of theeasiest runs that might ever be granted them at this levelbefore a declaration was mercifully enacted. Cuts, pulls andflowing drives were all in evidence as both Ponting andGilchrist enhanced their Test averages with a rapid unbrokenstand of 95 runs for the sixth wicket to take the score to 5/552before the closure came at 2:27pm with their team’s leadbeyond 400 runs.As if their plight had hitherto not been galling enough, theIndians then crashed headlong toward complete ignominy.From the manner in which they began, it seemed likely thatthe weary tourists must have already been completely rattledby the time that they then came in to bat. Or that is the waythat it initially appeared anyway as they crashed to a scoreof 3/33 and illustrated barely even a scintilla of fight againstsome unremarkable Australian bowling.Mannava Prasad (3) certainly heightened such suspicionswhen he meekly pushed forward at a Glenn McGrath (whose5/55 gave him only his second ever Test ten wicket haul) legcutter and angled a low catch to Mark Waugh at second slip.At the end of a miserable three Tests in Australia, Dravid (0)then reinforced them when he played a defensive shot at astraight McGrath delivery outside the line of off stump. Theresult was an outside edge straight to a juggling ShaneWarne at first slip who, despite his best attempts to transforman easy catch into a difficult one, completed the honours to aroar of approval from the unashamedly partisan and noisycrowd.And then even worse was to follow when superstar SachinTendulkar (4) seemed to take temporary leave of his normallyperfectly assured senses in the following over. After amagnificently authoritative shot to the mid wicket boundaryagainst the brilliant McGrath from his very first ball hadprovided the indication that he was in a mood to butcher theattack for one last time in this series, complete disaster soonfollowed. It came in the form of a loose cover drive at anoutswinger from Damien Fleming, the result a spooned shotand the easiest of catches for Langer at cover.With doubt surrounding the likelihood of the injured VijayBharadwaj’s ability to bat later in the innings, that left theIndians with effectively only six wickets standing and still wellover two days to play to avoid defeat.. But it was at about thisstage that Laxman (167) seemed to sense that the time wasright for someone to fill the breach. And so he did with agrace and an air of majesty that has not been apparent in toomany of the innings played by him or most of his teammatesin this series.He did survive the odd slice of fortune (the most notable at54, when he edged a McGrath no ball straight to first slip),but otherwise his fluency was uncompromising. Moreover, heplayed in exactly the fashion for which Indian supportershave been crying out throughout the series – withaggression, with pride, and with a myriad of glorious strokesto all parts of the ground.One could almost detect gasps and groans from a stunnedcrowd as he also made Brett Lee (fifty-two runs brutalisedfrom five of his overs at one point) suddenly look the meremortal that few at this ground had believed him to be in thewake of weeks of success and favourable publicity. Stillsearching for the elusive five wickets which will confirm himas the greatest Australian wicket taker in history, leg spinnerShane Warne also took some unexpected punishment,especially through the leg side in the late afternoon. That theAustralians were moved to introduce Ricky Ponting andMichael Slater into the attack late in the piece spoke of theirsudden and unexpected sense of frustration.Nevertheless, such frustration was not prolonged all thatmuch longer in what remained a hopelessly lopsided Test.This reality was further encouraged by the strange decision -with India only having just lost its sixth wicket – of theumpires to extend play when the conditions apparently didnot allow them to do so. Frankly, Robinson and Hair did notenjoy good games, they did little to quell the suspicion thatthe Indians had consistently been on the wrong end ofseveral poor decisions in this series, and they regrettably didnothing but confirm the impression even more acutely withwhat was almost their final act amid the Australian whitewash.