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The Australians had been focussing on breaking their Indian hoodoo for over eight years and had expected that to occur during the 2001 tour.� However, a once in a lifetime effort at Kolkata by Laxman and Dravid turned the entire series on its ear.� After 2001, winning in India had become an Australian obsession.� Some players have recently publicly elevated a tour to India above an Ashes series.
Former Australian captain, Stephen Waugh, had begun referring to India as the 'final frontier' prior to the 2001 tour.� After losing that series, Waugh had hoped to finish his Test career after 'one more tour' of India in 2004.� However, the selectors were not prepared to be that patient.
It was left to Ponting to lead Australia to their Everest, yet a finger injury saw Ponting unfit for the first three Tests.� By the time Ponting was fit for the fourth Test, vice captain Gilchrist had led the Australians to the series victory.
Australia dominated the first and third Tests with margins measured in multiple hundreds of runs.� The second Test saw both teams finishing the fourth evening's session evenly poised, with India holding a slight advantage.� Rain throughout the final day prevented either side claiming victory.�
The final Test saw Australia dominate until the final innings, when India had set a modest victory target of 107 runs and Australia self destructed, failing by 13 runs.� The curator who prepared the pitch for the final Test should be immediately sacked, after 40 wickets fell in two days.� Further, both the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Indian captain should refrain from further attempts to influence or 'order' pitches to their liking.
Australia began the series with a lead over India of 180 ratings points.� Such a lead should have seen Australia finish with either three wins or two wins and two draws.� As Australia ended up with two wins and only one draw, their rating has eased back by six ratings points to 1229 points.�
The fact that Australia won the series but lost rating points reflects how hard it is to maintain a rating above 1200 points.� Unless the team dominates each series, they will continue to drift back toward the second placed side.� In a historical context, (Sir) Vivian Richards' team is the next best team after the modern Australians.� Richard's team maintained a rating over 1200 points for only ten series from 1984 to 1990.� Australia has now kept their rating above 1200 points for twelve series from August 2001 to now.
Australia retains their stranglehold on first place in the rankings.� Australia's lead over second placed South Africa has now reduced to 93 ratings points.� Australia is now 12 ratings points adrift of the all time highest rating by any nation of 1241 points, set by Australia in October 2003.� Australia next face New Zealand in a two Test series in late November.� A series whitewash would see Australia recover the points lost to India.
India's rating rises to 1062 points as a result of this series.� India had been expected to only win one Test or draw two while losing the rest.� As India finished with a win and a draw, they earn six ratings points.� India remains in fifth position, but they have narrowed the margin to fourth placed Pakistan to only 14 ratings points.� India is now close enough that Pakistan's rating may fall below them if Pakistan has a bad tour of Australia in December.
India now holds their sixth highest rating in their 72 years in Test cricket.� India is only twelve points short of the highest ever rating of 1074 points, set in February 1980.� India was last ranked fourth in 1992 and has never been ranked higher than third.� To have any hope of breaking their national record, India will have to address their form away from home.
Further, India needs to take care that the win in the final Test and the rained out second Test do not colour their analysis of this series.� India's batsmen were Very Very Suspect against the Australian attack - unlike the majority of the 2001 series.� Further, an over reliance on spin will not help them away from home.� India needs to focus on establishing a varied pace attack that does not constitute two left arm quicks of an identical nature, as in the first Test debacle.� In addition, preparing the majority of pitches that favour the side winning the toss and batting first is a recipe for disaster if the visiting team calls correctly.�
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1. Australia (1229); 2. South Africa (1136); 3. England (1125); 4. Pakistan (1076); 5. India (1062); 6. Sri Lanka (1045); 7. New Zealand (1028); 8. West Indies (967); 9. Zimbabwe (881); 10. Bangladesh (787).
