One Notch Higher

The best way to shut out the media music is to find a rhythm of your own. This is what India captain Saurav Ganguly proved on a track traditionally known to produce the best chin music in the country, along with Perth. In my last column, I had mentioned that Ganguly had been wise to keep a low profile in the wake of undue media scrutiny since his arrival in Australia. At Gabba, during the rain-affected Test, he did even better by playing a knock that will silence his critics for sometime. Personally, I have never seen Ganguly more focused, more determined and more fired up. He would often walk to square leg to admonish himself after a bad shot, and quite obviously, he was really eager to get a century against Australia in Australia. He has some good scores against us in one-day cricket, but a Test century in Australia will certainly rank among Ganguly's favourites.

How one good batting performance can change the way a series is viewed can be gauged from the way people are now looking forward to the Adelaide Test as a game that will be fought on an even keel. The Australians finished the Brisbane Test on a strong note, so they are still the team to beat. However, the Indians have added excitement to the contest by proving that they are no pushovers.

The outside world might have been surprised by India's effort, but as a team, Australia has always had great respect for the potential of the Indian team. We know that there is more to the team than Sachin Tendulkar, and that was what Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman proved. It is significant that the latter now has five successive scores of over 50 against us—a testimony to his liking for a good battle. However, while we respect the Indians, we are confident that we can get past them if we play to potential. The conditions and some indiscreet shots did come in our way in the first Test, but we will be more focused and determined in the next game. The other player from the Indian side who rid himself of a few demons at Gabba was Zaheer Khan. Our batsmen had been getting the better of him over the last eight months in the odis. However, at Brisbane, he came back strongly to shoulder the weight of the Indian attack with a five-wicket haul. The Indians tried too hard on the first day, but on day two they were more relaxed and that proved to be the difference between 260-plus runs for two wickets on one day, and 60-odd runs for seven wickets on day two. Of course, the conditions did have a significant role to play, but then, you still have to go out and get them as a bowler.

Ganguly will now be hoping that some of his other bowlers also find good form so that Zaheer can have some support from the other end. This will be particularly necessary at the Adelaide Oval where conditions can be pretty tough for a pace bowler. The square boundaries are a little shorter, so the batsmen can be ruthless on any width offered by a bowler. Accuracy and line are what it takes for a bowler to do well at Adelaide, along with success with the new ball.

I was not too happy with the way I got out in both innings. I was playing quite well and could have gone on, but in both innings I was dismissed through bad shot selection. It was a difficult time for both teams since we were eager to get out into the middle, and some players were actually playing corridor cricket to kill time during the endless breaks. It was a disappointing Test in that sense, but the limited amount of cricket that was on show has really set up the next three games extremely well.

Looking forward to the Adelaide Test, the Australians are still favourites, especially after the fifth day of the first Test. Nathan Bracken, for instance, was much more controlled with the new ball in the second innings, and now looks more capable of shouldering the attack with Jason Gillespie. In the batting, the middle-order collapse in the first innings has been offset by reassuring half-centuries from Damien Martyn and Steve Waugh in the second innings. The Indians will relish the batsman-friendly conditions at Adelaide, but I still think that if we play to potential, we can make the going tough for them.

It was great to see Matt Hayden reach 1,000 runs for a third consecutive year—an unprecedented achievement in Test cricket. Very few cricketers work harder than Matt and it is a testimony to his consistency over the last three years that he has achieved this milestone. For a bloke who has quite a few records to his name, Matt is hardly statistically minded—perhaps that is why he plays with the aggression and power that have now become his hallmark.

The Australian attack at Brisbane did look a little under the weather without Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee, particularly when Ganguly and Laxman were going great guns. These are guys who can swing things back our way even after a couple of bad sessions, and their experience is always going to be missed. Having said that, I thought Jason Gillespie was quite outstanding right through the Test while Bracken improved as the game progressed. Andy Bichel has been shouldering a lot of the workload over the last six months and has bowled better, but he is the kind of guy who can bounce back very fast. Also, it must be noted that it was an awesome exhibition of batting that made the bowling look less than special. Brett Lee is now on the fast track to recovery, and will almost certainly join the squad for the next Two Tests, thus making our attack almost full-strength. Brett has already finished a one-day game and is playing a four-day match from Friday to get match fitness. The Boxing Day is a bit of an unrealistic target for Glenn, but knowing him, he must still be trying to beat the clock.

The media back here did give Stephen a tough time after his first innings duck. In fact, Martyn's run out, which was the cause of much debate, was discussed by both protagonists and the team has decided to look forward rather than dwell unnecessarily on one instance. I don't think Stephen is the kind of guy to get affected by bad press. In fact, if one looks at his career, things like this only spur him on to do better. After two decades in the game, you learn to take the rough with the smooth.