Fans are on cloud nine over the Indian cricket team’s maiden series win on Australian soil. In the process, India has become the first ever Asian team to script such success. No wonder, Indian skipper Virat Kohli considers the victory to be bigger than the 2011 World Cup win while coach Ravi Shastri equated the victory with the 1983 Prudential Cup win. With the Indian team continuing to celebrate Down Under, Orissa POST spoke to some enthusiastic cricket fans of the city on the big win.
Satyajit Das, a young business executive of a private bank, said India had won the final frontier by convincingly beating Australia on their soil. “However, I would have been happier had the record book read 3-1 instead of 2-1,” he added.
“It was so frustrating to see our team losing series after series to the Aussies. It seemed that they were invincible on their soil. I have never seen any Indian team even coming close to a series victory in Australia. In fact, any victory over Australia must be seen as a major achievement. Virat and his men have given us reason to rejoice. Hope they will continue on a winning streak in the one-day series also.”
Actor Swadhin Kumar Sahoo sees the series victory as a watershed moment for the Indian team. He completely agrees with the opinions of the Indian skipper and coach that this win is not less significant than the two World Cup victories. “Test matches are real tests of characters. It separates the men from the boys. This young team has proved that they are ready to graduate to the next level. Nothing is sweeter than a series victory on Australian soil. Though it was a team effort, I would single out Cheteswar Pujara as he was the one who blunted the bite of the Aussie bowling attack,” he said.
Sambit Nandi, a techie from Bhubaneswar, said, “I would like to congratulate the Indian team for achieving this rare feat. Fans were used to seeing our team lose series after series in Australia. However, the statistics often don’t reveal the full truth. For example, in the 1992 series India came so close to victory in two matches that it could have been anybody’s game. Then a certain victory slipped from our hands as the rain gods favoured the Aussies. India lost the series 0-4. Though I haven’t seen those matches, it must have been very painful for the fans,” he said.
He hopes the team will carry forward the good form into the one-day series. It is important to beat the Aussies on their home ground consistently to prove that this series victory is not a fluke, he added.
The Indian team deserves a lot of appreciation for breaking the 71-year-old jinx of failing to win a series victory in Australia, said Himanshu Bit, a banker. “It is not that we didn’t have the potential to achieve such a victory. Many victories simply slipped out of our hands. Sometimes, fortune didn’t favour us and at other times, we were on the verge of victory but lost due to reasons like bad umpiring decisions. But this victory has proved that India is No.1. It will go down in history as a golden moment of the Virat era.”
BIJAY MANDAL, OP