Nagpur must rise to the occasion

It would have been even more intriguing if the series were level and barring a sudden, but not unknown, attack of anxiety, that is how it would have been. The Chennai pitch seemed to be a dust factory and yet the ball did very little that was unexpected. Both pitches so far have teased and misled and that is why India were favourites on the last day. Shane Warne thinks otherwise but as a bowler on the fifth day, it is his business to do so.

What a day it would have been; the bowlers on the offensive, the batsmen smothering that hope with their own resolve.

Now Nagpur has much to live up to. It is an unlikely venue for champions to descend upon for it has little by way of history, of glorious cricket, to commend it. The cricketers might well feel they are artistes performing at a village theatre and that is why it is critical that Nagpur dresses itself up for the occasion; provides a track that is worthy of these competitors. In the past those that make the runs have ruled, the batsmen have been the favoured community but we cannot have a feather-bed now. India versus Australia, the great modern rivalry, is about confronting each other and they can only do so if the battle-field is worthy. But it could well be Nagpur’s great opportunity to show that they care enough. These have been poor days for the administration. If Nagpur can surprise us, India will applaud.

Ironically, the more unpleasant it gets, the better it is for India for they will adapt better. And that is why one can’t help thinking that India missed a trick in the scheduling. Chennai was always going to be the most draining of all the matches and, had it hosted the first or the third Test, Australia would have been tired going into the next one. Now they arrive at Nagpur, rested and refreshed, some from a pool some from an ayurveda centre.

Tactically India should have begun at Chennai, India’s best surface. There is nothing rude about it, Australia have traditionally played the Davis Cup on grass, Spain have on clay and New Zealand have held matches in Dunedin. Now the series deserves to come to Mumbai all-level but you can be sure that Australia will do their best to prevent that from happening. They are an intense team, with an excellent backroom staff and to that extent they could come out of Formula One.

They are better prepared this time because they have taken the trouble to understand India better. A reluctant tourist is a poorer cricketer, one that embraces the land he visits is bound to be a more optimistic fellow. They have tried to swat away all talk of India being the final frontier but you can tell how much it means to them. Should the teams come to Mumbai 1-1, the pressure will be on Australia. For that to happen, India need to bat well. Not better but well, for they have been poor so far. Since the season started, India have been in a cocoon. They try to kick themselves loose sometimes but you get the feeling they have misplaced the spark. The bowlers are getting it back now but it is the batsmen who need to lead the way and it is the first step that makes the biggest difference.

The decision to play Yuvraj Singh at the top is a gamble; it is the kind of instinct scientists of yore used when they didn’t have enough facts to prove their hypothesis. Many of them were wrong, some were spectacularly right. Ganguly needs to be right for this series to stay alive and give us many more enchanting moments.