Experts are looking at the upcoming tour of Australia as India’s best chance to post a Test series win in that country. Our record Down Under is far from impressive. Of the 11 Test series it has played there, India has lost eight and drawn three. Australia has won 28 of the 44 Test matches, and India just five. Things, however, are looking different this time with even the pessimistic getting ready to bet on an Indian victory. More than the improvements made by Virat Kohli’s team, it is the state of Australian cricket at the moment that is triggering this optimism.
The ball-tampering incident in Cape Town, which saw stalwarts Steve Smith and David Warner suspended for a year each, took place in March, but it continues to take its toll on Australian cricket. The team’s performance on the field has dipped noticeably since then. More damagingly for the Australian cricket establishment, it is receiving blows one after another. Cricket Australia’s main sponsor terminated its contract soon after the incident, while a number of people occupying top posts quit one by one.
The list includes Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland, and director and former captain Mark Taylor. A damning criticism of their system in a review by an independent agency has made matters worse. Instead of looking ahead and turning a new leaf, they are still getting jolted by the aftershocks of the initial tremor.A convincing Indian victory in the Australia series will only confirm the collapse of a system that ruled the tiny world of cricket not many years ago.
It will also highlight the struggle for existence the game faces in places other than the subcontinent. This may be difficult to comprehend sitting in India, but in most other places, due to competition from different sports, cricket has to follow the highest of moral and ethical standards. The Australian experience so far has been an example of the heavy price cricket has to pay for lapses.