Australia's shock test series defeat against depleted India has led to doomsday predictions for a team which ruled the cricket world not too long ago.
India's fourth test win against all odds in Brisbane, giving them a 2 – 1 series triumph, is being portrayed as a watershed moment in the history of cricket.
There has been widespread praise for India in the Australian media and among the fans, along with some despair over Australia's prospects.
Writing in the Telegraph, Robert "Crash" Craddock said Australia got "knocked cold".
"Mark it down as one of the truly chastening results in Australian cricket history," Craddock wrote.
"When an opposition team loses all four tosses, their captain, seven players through injury and still spank your regal backside you've got problems.
"But the real problem is that there are no answers.
"Apart from that rousing, bolt from the blue morning in Adelaide when India were bowled out for 36, Australia looked flat for most of the series.
"They had no presence in the field. No growl or snarl. No stare. No intent. India were the louder team on stump microphones and that is unheard of in Australia.
"India have raised the bar in cricket. The scary thing is it is likely to keep going up."
He said India had "inspired the entire cricket world".
"Australia have been Pantsed," he enthused, in reference to star Indian wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant.
One headline screamed: "The day India bullied the bullies out of Fortress Gabba".
The Telegraph also reckoned captain Tim Paine was left with egg on his face after calling Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin a "d***head" in the third test, and saying "can't wait to get you to the Gabba".
Australia's hopes of making the world test final had been dealt a "hammer blow".
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Greg Baum thanked India for "one of the classic series (and) one of the more extraordinary days."
Writing in The Australian, Peter Lalor said a "ragged, embattled and depleted group has embarrassed a full strength Australia".
"They shifted the cricket world on its axis," he continued.
"India was as fearless as Australia was nervous."
India's Ravichandran Ashwin shared an image on Twitter of former Australian players, now pundits, playing down his side's chances after the first test defeat.
"There could be a good chance (of a whitewash)...with Kohli not being there...there's almost no one to pick them up after a loss like that," said former skipper Ricky Ponting.
Fellow ex-captain Michael Clarke also predicted a tame Indian response.
"Can you imagine this Indian batting line-up without Virat Kohli for the next two matches? They are in deep trouble," he said.
"Four-nil to Australia," predicted Mark Waugh, which was the same prediction by former England captain Michael Vaughan.
LHS ( not = ) RHS !
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) January 19, 2021
Yours happily
India tour of OZ 2020/21
Humbled by all the love and support we have received over the last 4 weeks!🙏 pic.twitter.com/nmjC3znglx
India’s series win is one of the great sporting triumphs. In bio-secure bubbles since October, 36 all out in Adelaide, dozens of players missing: win in Melbourne & salvage in Sydney before ending Australia’s 33 year unbeaten run in Brisbane. The stuff of legend. #AUSvIND
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) January 19, 2021
Congrats to the Indian cricket team @BCCI That’s one of the best series wins I can ever remember on Aust soil & to do it after being bowled out for 36, plus a depleted squad-shows tremendous character, resilience, courage & belief. Just fantastic @RaviShastriOfc @ajinkyarahane88
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) January 19, 2021
The Greatest Test series win of all time ... Well done #India you have just shown the way for England to get back those Ashes back later in the year ... 👍 https://t.co/eWKaKFfJ41
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 19, 2021
"I'm going to cop a lot of flak."
Paine probably knows what is coming his way after becoming the first Australian captain to lose a test match at the Gabba since 1988, and somehow losing another test series to India on home soil.
The first time, in 2018-19, it was not long after he'd been elevated to lead the national team in a re-building phase after a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa that resulted in then-captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner being banned for 12 months.
Virat Kohli's squad won that series 2-1 to claim India's first test series win on Australian soil.
This time Australia had the settled combination — the top-rated bowling attack in test cricket, Smith and Warner back — and India was missing a team full of regular starters because of injuries and Kohli's unavailability for three-quarters of the series. And yet India won 2-1, again.
Somehow, India found a way to rebound from one of its worst batting collapses — all out for 36 in an eight-wicket loss at Adelaide in the first test last month — to win the second test in Melbourne and get the emotional better of a drawn third test in Sydney.
When all it needed was a draw in Brisbane to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy, stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane's injury-plagued India squad never had any intention other than to produce an upset win in the fourth and final test at the Gabba.
They did it with three overs, three wickets and only minutes to spare.
"I'm going to cop heaps of flak, I know that," Paine said Tuesday in the wake of India's remarkable three-wicket win. "I've been absolutely belted by (critics) for about seven days."
Australia was in a strong position to win the third test last week but was unable to take eight wickets on the last day as India's batting lineup dug in. The Australian fielders put down regulation catches — Paine was responsible for three of those in Sydney. And he was widely criticized for losing his cool and verbally attacking Ravichandran Ashwin as the India allrounder was batting to salvage a draw.
Paine, who'd considered giving up professional cricket not long before his test recall in 2017, was considered a calming influence when he first took over the test captaincy at a tumultuous time for the team in March 2018. He'd played his first four tests in 2010, then spent seven years out of the team in which he'd learned a lot about patience and resilience. He was firm but fair. Cool and composed.
Those traits abandoned him late in this series, and pundits picked up on it.
"That's par for the course for this job. There's people out there who're paid to critique the game, and critique my performance as a player and a captain," he said. "I'm totally fine with that. I'm very honest with myself. I know when I make mistakes.
"This has been slightly different for me the last two weeks with lots of criticism coming my way (but) you've got to have thick skin."
He's won 11, lost eight and drawn four of his 23 tests as captain.
Paine said his focus now is on winning Australia's next test series against South Africa — likely to be in March — and on the team's chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship final in England later in the year.
"Still looking forward to going to South Africa ... we had a goal to make this test championship final and I think that's still achievable," the 36-year-old wicketkeeper said.
"We've got some unfinished business ... I intend to finish that."
- With AP
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