Swiping his bat in rage and turning back to the black concrete wall behind the nets, KL Rahul cursed himself. The loud expletive he spouted cut through a gust of afternoon breeze, bringing the nets to a standstill. Everyone stopped and directed their gazes towards him, even Virat Kohli who was batting at the furthest end from Rahul’s station.
Rahul turned back and waved his hands, suggesting that there was no cause for any untoward alarm. Except that he was unhappy with himself for nicking off a strapping seamer, bowling from 18 yards out.
It was just another nets session, one of the hundreds Rahul had had in his career. But the smouldering intensity was such that it seemed as though he were already duelling with Pat Cummins and Scott Boland in the middle, thwarting the bend and hoop of the new ball. Not only Rahul, beside him were Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and KS Bharat, sunk in a world unto themselves, perhaps playing a Test match of their own in their minds.
An optional net sessions two days before a Test could be a light-hearted affair, when the players would have already steeled their plans, studied the opposition and would be polishing the last bits of their preparation, just getting a feel of the venue, nature of the surface, the dryness of the air, or the intensity of the sun, revising the lessons and plans like studious students a day before an examination.
But this was a different session, in mood and vibe. There was less of the chatter and merriment that usually intone these sessions, but solemn, sombre faces fiercely glued into their chores. No one cracked a joke, no one wore half a smile, no one wanted a distraction.
The session was brutally business-like, aptly reflective of the unflinching intensity of India-Australia rivalry in this century. There could be more historic and storied face-offs in the sport, more important trophies to be won and lost, more layered narratives and lucrative competitions, but this has been the fiercest rivalry in Test cricket this century, built on the bedrock of competitiveness, the unflinching quest to prevail in conditions entirely foreign to each other, that has evolved into a glorious spectacle. What began as a classical tale of the underdog challenging the top guns has unfolded into a battle of equals, with all of their last three series alive till the final Test.
Out of comfort zone
At the heart of the drama and theatre, the bark and the bite, the aggression and antagonism these contests have repeatedly but un-boringly produced over the last two decades is this supreme pursuit of conquering elements alien to each other. Pace and bounce for India; spin and spinners for Australia. That they have rarely achieved their objectives adds to this longing. In more than half a century, Australia have plonked their flag in the country just twice, despite dominating world cricket for much of these years; India have scripted series wins in Australia just twice in their entire history.
So says Australia skipper Pat Cummins: “Winning a series in India is like an Ashes away series, but even more rare. I really think it’s a career highlight and an era-defining series if you can win over here.”
It has been a shore of shattered dreams and broken egos for some of his most illustrious predecessors, from Allan Border to Steve Waugh and Michael Clarke to Steve Smith. Just as Australia has been an El Dorado for India’s vaunted batting quartet, though it had teased and tantalised them, before Kohli’s men triumphed for the first time in 2019, and then dramatically repeated the feat in 2021. Both times, then captain Tim Paine would admit: “It hurts.”
The home turf is a citadel both teams fiercely guard, which could be gauged by the national celebration that followed two of India’s series wins in Australia. It could be gauged in the build-up of both sides to this series. Rarely have India organised a camp before a home series in years, the last time it happened was before Australia’s previous Test expedition to the country. Rarely do the stands fill up for Tests in the country, as they do for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Scarcely have Australia’s cricketers stayed back from the BBL final (equivalent of India’s cricketers skipping an IPL final), or packed their warm-up games with a truckload of local spinners.
No Test series incites as much excitement as when these two teams battle. A flock of excited teens loitered outside the stadium when Australia were training just to get a glimpse of Cummins and Steve Smith. They were denied entry to the practice premises, but still they hung around in hope. In street-side tea shacks, they are speculating about the possible playing eleven, pitch-forecasting and putting money on how many days this first Test would last. In another corner, they are dusting up memories of the 2004 green-top, or the hammering of Australia in 2008. Nagpur is not a cricket-obsessed city, but the pull and charm of an India-Australia Test is irresistible.
Needing no crutches
It has a standalone value that blurs the shadows and melts the shackles of the World Test Championship final. It does not need the stakes of a WTC final to inject context into the series, rather it exists as a self-sustainable industry in itself. Rahul would dwell on this aspect in his press conference: “Yeah, obviously there is the World Test Championship, but when it is Australia and India, it is hard to think beyond it. This time, it is not different to any other India-Australia series, and our focus is not about reaching the WTC finals but about winning the series.”
It’s hard to disagree. No other match-up has thrilled, excited or pained fans and cricketers. There have been times when it has produced unmatchable theatre. Like the facial contortions of Ishant Sharma, his crude mimicry of Smith; or the child-like peevishness of Kohli when he accused Smith of cheating when seeking a DRS verdict, or his mocking grin whenever Australia lost a review; or snappy one-liners like “I won’t be friends with Australians again (Kohli)” or the more notorious “See you in Brisbane (Tim Paine).” Or the scandals that are revisited and re-read, deconstructed and reconstructed before every series.
There have been magic and madness, friction and feistiness, moments that make you one marvel as well as cringe, those of regrets and rumination, memories that are eternally stamped in the minds of audience that a passing mention of a year or venue is all it takes for the torrent of memories and moments to gush forth. It’s difficult to think of a more emotionally-invested or draining meeting this century. The Ashes, definitely, has had its moments, with its history and cultural import, but it’s not as sustained or brutally intense as a Border-Gavaskar series this century. The mood in the nets aptly captured the essence of the most defining Test rivalry of this century.
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