Watching Australia clinch the ODI series against India gave me just one pre-dominant thought. Australia might be a team which has lost some genuine match winners, but definitely doesn’t look like a team which has lost its self-belief. The Hyderabad ODI which Aussies won by 3 runs is a true tribute to the Aussie spirit. Even after Sachin got out just when it seemed like he had yet again played a blinder to see India achieve its highest ever ODI run chase, the target was definitely within India’s reach.
The experiment of super sub introduced by ICC some years back could have been a failure but the Aussies seem to possess their own “Super Sub” which very rarely seems to disappoint them. It is the self belief that the Aussies seem to have made as their “Super Sub” that is helping them win close matches. Do not forget that this Australian line up did not have 7 injury hit players who would have otherwise made it to the playing XI. But, their ability to win these close matches has to be attributed to the “Super Sub”
I have grown up in an era which can be safely said as the Australian era in cricket, thanks to certain individuals like Warne, McGrath, Steve Waugh and Ponting. Any other team would have struggled to come to terms with the retirement of so many pure match winners in a short span (West Indies would be able to explain it better). The number of games that Aussies are losing has gone up in the recent times and also the number of games where the opponents run them close has gone up. Still, in big tournaments and big moments of a game, they deliver. It is not individuals with extra-ordinary talent who enable them to achieve this but it is a combination of skill and this “Super sub” which seem to be in-built in the Aussie system.
It would not be hard for any other team to get to the No.1 ranking, but to stay there for at least a considerable amount of time this “Super Sub” has to become an integral part of the team. Anyhow, cricket followers can be happy as an ODI series such as the current India-Australia series will definitely lay to rest the debate about the future of ODIs for quite some time.
-Raghavan
