Thirty-five years is a long time indeed. That was an age in which cricket was still considered a 'gentleman's game' and one-day cricket was unheard of. The Packer circus, the isolation of South Africa, and the domination of the West Indies had not yet come to pass.
Many great Australian cricketers have come and gone in that period the like of the Brothers Waugh, Taylor, and Border without seeing their side win a Test series in India.
India came to be called 'the final frontier', the toughest place to win a Test and the only place to have successfully resisted the all-conquering Aussies. And for most of the current Aussies, winning in India was the one thing they wanted most.
India has for long been such a difficult place to win in because of the conditions the crumbling pitches, the heat, the humidity, and, of course, the supreme confidence that Indian batsmen displayed when playing at home.
Australia on the other hand, with the exception of the 2001 series, had never toured India with a full strength squad in the last decade. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne had missed out on one series each McGrath missed the 1998 series, Warne the one-off Test in 1995 and, in their absence, the men from Down Under just didn't have the firepower to bang out the Indians.
But from the moment they arrived in India, this time sans skipper Ricky Ponting, it is their focus that has stood out. Acting skipper Adam Gilchrist was diplomacy personified. There were no jibes at the Indian players; no talk of aggressive play; indeed, nothing that would provoke the Indians into action.
The only thing that we heard time and again was: "We have learnt from the mistakes that we made in 2001, we do not want to repeat them. Back then, I [Gilchrist] had never lost a Test match and did not know what defeat meant. Now I know and we are wiser."
There was none of the brash confidence of 2001, when, immediately after arriving, Steve Waugh had laid down the gauntlet saying we, the Aussies, are here to play aggressive cricket.
Waugh's style of captaincy was different. Australia never went on the defensive under the senior Waugh, it was just attack, attack, attack.
Gilchrist has left his own indelible mark on the team. Under him, the Australians have been more prepared to bide their time, they were more patient and, most importantly, they wanted this win badly enough to change their natural game if need be.
'Tugga', as Steve Waugh was known to teammates, wanted the win badly too, but his methods were brutal. He lacked the necessary finesse. But in his moment of triumph, Gilchrist never forgot him. "Our thoughts go out to Tugga," the graceful acting captain said.
Someone once said, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."
The Australians did all that and more. Every man pulled his weight in the team and even when things looked bleak, as they did in Chennai, they persisted.
In the end, they had more stamina than the Indians, they were stronger, that little bit faster. And their will was indeed far stronger than their skill.
The victory that they desired so deeply is finally theirs to cherish.
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