Quite an against-all-odds scene

Brisbane is generally where Test battles start in the Australian season But in the summer of 202021 the BorderGavaskar Trophy series ends here The reason for this can be attributed to the pandemic These are different times What has stayed the same before this Brisbane Test is the fact that the hosts are tipped to crush their opponents at a venue where they have enjoyed considerable successEvery season we are reminded by the Australian press that West Indies was the last overseas team to win a Test at Brisbane That was in 1988In fact no subcontinental team has emerged triumphant in a Test at the Gabba although India came close in 1977 when they fell 16 runs short of their target against Bob Simpsonrsquos Australians Sunil Gavaskar scored 113 while chasing 341 and the pundits expected another Tied Test on the Gabba turf at one stage ldquoFor excitement and drama it the 1977 Test would rank with the Brisbane Test against the West Indies the Adelaide Test and the final Test of the same seriesrdquo wrote Simpson in Sportsweekrsquos World of CricketWith the current series tantalisingly hanging at 11 and with the bragging rights in the last two Tests of the rubber belonging to India how we wish we could have high hopes of a series win But the Indian team is ravaged by injuries and it is quite an againstallodds situationIndiarsquos main fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is out of the Test with an abdominal strain He joins leftarm spinner Ravindra Jadeja dislocated thumb in a crowded nonplaying group while chief spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has a back problem that he managed to shrug off during his matchsaving innings at Sydney on Monday Fellow batting hero Hanuma Viharirsquos hamstring could well prevent him from playing his maiden Gabba TestOne feels most for Bumrah He has troubled the Australian batsmen as expected and has helped add a special layer of admiration for Indiarsquos fast bowling stocks His absence from the Brisbane Test is akin to a kid watching a candy store display and not being able to get in because of a toothacheThe Indian team have offfield frustrations as well mdash strict quarantine regulations laid down by the Queensland government no entry into the swimming pool no room service and unavailable housekeepingAll this makes skipper Ajinkya Rahanersquos job tougher Plus he has got to rediscover the magic of Melbourne from a batting front he was dismissed for 22 and 4 in SydneyI asked famous West Indian sports psychologist Dr Rudi Webster as to what would be his advice to the Indian team in such a scenario This is what he said ldquoRahane seems to be motivating the players well and getting the best out of them If he continues like that the replacements will step up to the plate and make important contributionsldquoThe teamrsquos selfbelief and selfconfidence must be high Selfbelief selfmotivation and selfdiscipline are key factors at this level The discipline the team demonstrated in the second innings was tremendous The Test will be very competitive The team that stays calm handles the pressure and executes the basics better will triumphrdquoLeave aside the best combination in the given circumstances the Indian team needs 11 fit men on the fieldThe squad members also require a motivator a role which their head coach Ravi Shastri can perform well Knowing him he wonrsquot allow the team to look for sympathy In fact hersquoll encourage them to hold their heads high while walking out to do battle Last Test one last big effort hersquoll say to them He will not bring this up but itrsquos a fact that Shastri performed creditably in the last Test of several series In his debut one he bagged five wickets in an innings at Auckland in 1981 In the sixth and final Test against Pakistan at Karachi in 1983 he scored a hundred while opening the innings with captain Sunil Gavaskar The five stitches on his split webbing were removed only a few days before the gameAnother final Test hundred was scored against the pacestrong West Indies at Antigua later that year And I remember watching him score a century against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in the finale of the Tied Test series of 198687Shastrirsquos supreme captaincy skills were on display at Chennai in 1988 when India claimed its first win in 10 years against the West IndiesA big hundred against England at The Oval in 1990 made him the first Indian Test opener to score two hundreds in a series on English soil India didnrsquot end up losing in all these instancesUnderstandably Brisbane is not the place Team India would like to be in The fairer option would have been to play the final Test at Sydney logistics permitting of course But the battle lines are drawn and the soldiers must make the most of this encounter One thing is certain the team wonrsquot leave Australians shores in disgracemiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper