Test series craves blood, sweat, tears

(##include msid=32254032,type=11##) NEW DELHI: Just a couple of days before Indiameet Australia on the cricket pitch, the hoopla and the hullabaloo are missing!Where are the rave reviews regarding the clash of the titans on thesub-continent? Where is the war of words so famously exchanged by Sourav Gangulyand Steve Waugh prior to the 2001 Test series? The battleground istotally devoid of preparations that highlight a big fight. No mention of what itmeans to beat the opposition. No word about any sort of rivalry between stand-incaptain Adam Gilchrist and Sourav Ganguly. Nothing to show that the series is awatershed one, that it will be a joust to dwarf all othercontests.In fact, the series highlightsthe terms of endearment regarding the opposition players rather than "blastingthe f#$*@%! enemy out of existence" kind in yesteryears. There is an organisedattempt to showcase bonhomie. Shane Warne walks up to Sachin Tendulkar and askshim about the weather and the pitch. Glenn McGrath says he respects VVS Laxman.Jason Gillespie waxes eloquent on the brilliance of RahulDravid.Will the people really want to see a contest where theAustralians said they loved everything India? Who wants to check out a Tendulkarvs Warne when both were holding hands the previous evening?The greatfactor that transformed the Australia-India series in 2001 to the heights of anIndia-Pakistan rivalry were the personal equations (gloves are off enmity)between Waugh and Ganguly (Waugh went on record to say he was no friend ofGanguly''s besides complaining of his counterpart’s stalling tactics at thetoss, once even questioning its result!), Warne and Tendulkar, Sidhu andMcGrath, Damien Fleming and Rahul Dravid, Ajit Agarkar and MichaelSlater.Today, we would be hard-pressed to come upon anythingresembling conflict in the personal equations between the stars of both thesides. In fact, all the rivalries (Matthew Hayden vs Irfan Pathan, Glenn McGrathvs Rahul Dravid, Damien Martyn vs Harbhajan Singh seem like so much artificialcreations. There is no blood and gore, nothing physical to show that theserivalries indeed do exist. The aura is that of a corporate meet, with everybodysworn to be on their best behaviour.This series is in serious dangerof being just another contest that people will skim through on the overlayinglayers. No one will be interested in the performance of individuals, besides thecursory records broken, centuries scored etc. In short, the players are robbingthe public of an eagerly anticipated and much-heralded war of the worlds thatwould drive junkies off their dope and the alcoholics off their brew for theduration of the series, besides giving the cricketing aficionados their desired,nay demanded, elixir of life. (##include msid=32254032,type=11##)The thing that will transform this series into ahumdinger will need players from both sides getting their boxing gloves on,rather than the diplomatic ones, and start taking pot shots at their rivals bytelling them what they will do to that so and so in the enemy camp.Where did this camaraderie come from? Are the players so caught upin the preparations, the commotion and the fuss that they have forgotten how toget ready for the battle. Must they play at being ambassadors of the game if itmeans ruining the sport. The gentlemen''s game will be robbed of all its vitalityif Australian and Indian players start singing paeans for theopposition.A series is noted for it duels. How did Sachin blastWarne out of the attack so much so that the bowler admitted to nightmares monthsafter the series was over. How Sidhu battled McGrath into a sorry spectacle. HowHarbhajan Singh (nicknamed Turbanator after the series) made a fool of RickyPonting time after time.The Australians have come to India to breaka 34-year-old winless Test streak in India. The history is there, the playersare the best in the world, the climate is hot. But, amazingly, the tempers aresanguine. Without the blood, sweat and tears, the series is inserious danger of becoming a dud.