Australia had one of the best ever runs in Test Cricket when they won 16 matches in a row in 1999-2000 under the captaincy of Steve Waugh, and one of India's worst ever performances abroad came when India toured Australia in 1999-2000.  Indian batsmen who over the years were rated highly could not withstand the pace of Brett Lee and Mc Grath.

The series was remembered for poor umpiring when Sachin Tendulkar was wrongly given out 3 times in 6 innings.  Inspite of that Tendulkar batted brilliantly to top score for India with 278 runs at an average of 46.33.  He would have easily tripled that tally of runs and average had he not been targeted by umpirs that badly.  Leaving aside Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman not even a single batsman scored a half century in that series, the only exception being Anil Kumble. That in itself is a indicator how much Indian batsmen were mauled by Aussie bowlers.

Rahul Dravid who entered the series with a big reputation of being the most technically correct and consistent batsman in the world was the one who suffered the most.  He could not manage even 100 runs in the entire series scoring just 93 runs at an average of 15.50 as he found the pace of Bret Lee too hot too handle.  In fact Anil Kumble with 102 runs scored more runs than Dravid at a better average of 25.50.  The number of runs scored by Indian specialist batsman and their averages indicate how poorly they fared against the Aussie quicks and Shane Warne.

Runs scored in the series.

102 Anil Kumble (Bowler).

93 Rahul Dravid

74 Kanitkar

60 Sadagoppan Ramesh (Opener)

52 M S K Prasad (Wicket keeeper batsman)

6  Vijay Bharadwaj

4 Devang Gandhi (Opener)

Bowling Averages

29.50 Sourav Ganguly

25.50 Anil Kumble (Bowler)

20.00 Sadagoppan Ramesh (Opener)

18.50 Kanitkar

15.50 Rahul Dravid

8.66  M S K Prasad (Wicket keeper batsman)

6.00 Vijay Bharadwaj

2.00 Devang Gandhi

If you look at the runs and averages you will notice that specialist batsman could not score the number of runs even a tail ender like  Anil Kumble scored, nor could they average better than Kumble.  The series has always been remembered for Ajit Agarkars 5 consecutive ducks, but on the contrary Ajit Agarkar was one of the successes of the tour as he had the distinction of being the  highest wicket taker for India picking 11 wickets and a very good average of 31.90.  The much rated Javagal Srinath was a poor second with a bowling average of 46.90 per wicket.

Apart from the performances of Sachin Tendulkar who was brilliant and Ajit Agarkar who consistently picked up wickets, the series saw the rebirth of a champion in V V S Laxman.  Though Laxman failed through out the series'  in the last innings at Sydney when he and India had nothing to lose,  Laxman  scored a magnificent 167.  Laxman who till then was a failure was reborn.

Regards

Satish

• Written by N R SATISH.
• In category Cricket.
• 15 years ago.

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