Ricky Ponting vs. Series Victory in India (Part 1)
Australia is yet to secure a test victory on Indian soil under the leadership of current test skipper Ricky Ponting. The visiting Aussies have lost the first match of the ongoing two-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India won the first test at Mohali with just
1 wicket in hand in a nail-biting finish with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 saving the number one team in the world from a lot of embarrassment.
Historically, the Indians have successfully dominated almost every international team in the test arena at home and are currently topping the ICC rankings because of this factor as well. However, if the visiting Aussies are not able to finish the two test
match series on a high or at least look to draw the second encounter in Bangalore, their test world rankings will drop to the 5th spot - a result which may lower the morale of the Australian players against a resurgent English squad in the Ashes series.
Apart from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2004-05, the Australians haven’t won a test series against the Indian team since 1969-70.
To date, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 has toured India on 12 occasions. During the first few tours till the 1970’s, the Australian dominated Indian cricket, defeating them in the 1956-57 and the 1959-60 home series with ease. However, the 1964-65 series ended in a 1-1 draw
which was the first time that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 was able to save a home-series against the Australian team.
Australia then went on to win the 1969-70 home series against a strong Indian line-up. Ever since that 1970 tour, the Indians have pretty much given a hard time to the visiting Australian team. It could be gauged by the fact that the Australians won the
2004-05 home series on Indian soil after a good 34 long years under the captaincy of former wicket-keeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Gilchrist-c918. Skipper Ricky Ponting was injured during that tour, and was able to play only one test in which he scored an embarrassing total of 23
runs.
One might wonder that India’s bowling has served as the main reason which has led to the several Aussie series defeats in India. But the reality is that the Indians have always performed with the bat, producing some of the finest batsmen the world has ever
seen.
With the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 and Zaheer khan has made it possible
for the Indians to strict the Aussies to some extent as well. Back in the days, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anil-Kumble-c44737 and Harbhajan Singh bowled in tandem - both spinners who were invincible in playing on Indian pitches.
The apparent difference in playing conditions between Australia and India has also played a big role. Indian pitches have the tendency to break up after 2 to 3 days of test cricket, which allow spin or slow orthodox bowlers to operate efficiently and effectively.
Since the Aussie batsmen are not really used to playing on such dead and slow tracks, they fail to occupy the crease on underprepared wickets. As a result, Indian batsmen make the most of such opportunities against teams playing in alien conditions.
To be continued...
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