A start of another Aussie juggernaut?

Just for a fleeting moment, forget the latest ICC Test/ODI/T20 rankings. When was the last time we saw a side that steam-rolled an opposition to submission for a period of atleast a few years in succession? When was the last time you saw a team that looked like a champion outfit?

Well, it would invariably be the Australian side of the millennium. For me, the exact starting point of their mesmerizing victory-spree began in the second Test versus Pakistan in Hobart in 1999-2000 series. Chasing an improbable total of 369, the duo of Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer came together with their team in dire straits— five down for 126— and they rewrote not just the record books, but ensured that a new era had born.

That particular win under the stewardship of Steve Waugh to me marks the birth of a new cricketing superpower, which till then was content is ‘just winning.’ The mantra after that game was ‘ WIN’.

A team’s calibre is known not just by the results in produces in its favour, but the way it is been produced. Australian team invariably won matches and their back-from-the-dead victories is what separated them from the rest of the herd.

In one of his chats, Adam Gilchrist famously remarked, “I do not remember losing that many matches at all.” It is a big statement considering that he had played close to 100 Test matches and been part of three successive World Cup winning teams.

Cut to the years which saw a steep decline in Australia’s aura of invincibility. All of a sudden, countries such as India and South Africa saw a rise in their cricketing prowess and understandably so, the two nations always sported talent and their emergence was expected.

While India understandably banked on its experienced heads—-Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman to script victories overseas on a regular basis, the emergence was Zaheer Khan gave cushion for skippers to go all out against the opposition. South Africa had grown into a full fledged side that could muscle past the opposition but are yet to win a Test series in the last 10 years in Indian conditions.

India, on the other hand, is yet to win a Test series in South Africa or in Australia in recent memory. Winning a Test is not equivalent to winning a Test series.

Australia were one of the last few teams to have passed the biggest Test in all cricketing nations.

Interestingly, the Aussie jugernaut has begun to taste success again with Test series wins in Sri Lanka recently and have commenced on their to the Rainbow Nation on a high. Only time will tell if this is another start of golden era for the Kangaroos, and if it is, then God save the other teams as the former World Champions will be hard to catch once they get into top gear.