A bunch of youngsters took on the mighty full strength Australian team and beat them to win the Test series in Australia. I was fortunate enough to catch the last few overs of this test match. It still gives me goosebumps thinking about the match and the unbelievable victory. I am sure most Indians like me perhaps woke up praying that it would rain for half a day atleast and we would be able to draw out the match. Far too often have we seen past teams crumble under pressure. It wasn’t meant to be however. This was after all a Terrific Tuesday.
It is definitely a moment to cherish. As I sit back late at night going over umpteen articles and forwards trying to relive those moments, several parallels to day to day life came to the fore. These are 3 important life lessons that were reaffirmed for me and i would like to remember from this historic cricketing victory
- Failure is not fatal: After 36- all out in the first test, the world had written off the players. With Kohli not being available for the rest of the series, very few experts gave them a chance. But failure in life and in sport in seldom fatal. No matter how horribly you may have performed, as long as you pick up the pieces, realise the mistakes you made and have the courage to look forward to a brand new day with the resolve in your heart to give your best in the arena of life again – things can take a turn for the better sooner than you can imagine.
- Sum of parts is greater than the whole: As a cricketing nation – more often than not we have rested on our hopes on the star player, the Gavaskars, Kapil Devs, Tendulkars, Kohlis etc. This brady bunch of a team however showed the true meaning of all round contributions from each and every member of the team. You did have a few standout performances -but each and every player chipped away at the Aussie team in their own unique way – slowly but steading pulling down the magnificent and giant façade of the Mighty Australian team in their own backyard. From the body armour put on by Pujara, Vihari and Ashwin to barely experience bowling attack of Siraj, Sundar, Shardul, Saini and Natarajan taking 20 wickets in a test match. To put the final nail in the coffin on a ground where they last lost a test more than 3 decades ago was a Hitchcockian twist of sorts.
- We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility: For me the icing on the cake was in the midst of an era defining victory against all odds, we had a captain who was an epitome of humility. The gesture of the signed jersey gifted to Nathan Lyon for his 100th match showed respect for the opposition even when they could have afforded to focus on their own victory. It showed great character and spoke volumes about the culture of this team.
These are some of the lessons I take home from this fantastic series and yes – I will have stories to tell for the generations to come about this this sunny Tuesday in January and when bunch of boys blue rewrote History at the Gabba!
