It'sgameon (hopefully)!

Radhika Bhatia, Ajay Naidu,Sandip Hai; GrahakCunningham, Royston Rebelid;; Shampa Bhattacharya Bruwel�ii; Petra O'Neiii;

PROUD MEMBEROF:

Indian Link is a monthly newspaper published in J;.nglish. No material, including advertisements designed by Indian Link, may be reproduced in ;part or in whole without the written consent of the :editor.

With the Indian team's amazing abilicy to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,as evidenced in rhefirsttwo test matches against Australia this summer, one can only hopethat they fare betterin the ICC Wo.cldCupmatcheslaterthis quarter to keep thehopes of not only theirfans inIndia,but the30 million strong non-resident Indian communicy, alive.Theupcoming OneDay matches againstAustralia should give them a good feel for what theyneed to do,bm the true test will startfrom 15Februarywhenthe big competition kicks off.

For us Indians u1 Australia,it is always adifficult question to answer as to which team we support, India or Australia.Oneanswerwhich is outright disloyalty ro our country of adoption is ''You can takethe man out of Indiabut you cannottakethe Indian out of the man." Now, consideoog that c cicket is the only sport i11whichIndiaexcels (at tunes),whileAustraliahas mgby(union and League), tennis, swrn1rningand so many other sports to bringhomethe gold, it maybe alright to be disloyal. The other answer hedges yourbets,"If Australiawins, we throw a shrimp on thebarbie;if Indiawins,it's tandoori chicken (or paneer) on thebarbie." Th.isway rhere isan answer which says nothing and yetsatisfiesthe inquiry.

Either way, the challenge oftenis howto balance theextremely parochial commentary on Channel 9, where Australiacan do no wrong on the cricketfieldand thevisitors can do no right.A prime example of th.is was the commentary by cheer leaders of Australian cricket such as Shane \'v'arne,IanHealeyandMichaelSlater, who could not finda thing right with Indiancaptain MS Dhoniin the Boxing DayTest.His field placing was wrong, thebowlingchanges werestrangeand the overall gameplan was a mystery. It was only guest commeutacor, the injured Australian captain Michael Clarke,who was able co explain why Dhon.i was doing what he was doing, and the purposebehind those field placementsand strategies. Channel 9 cricket commentary could well do with abalance- or viewers will switch to watchingtheirvisualbut withABC radio commentary in thebackgrou11d.

TheIndian ream Looks good- they areyoung and with youth comes a certain level of aggression.Newly appointed captainViratKohlienjoys confrontation as was evidencedin the 2011-12 tour with his famous middle linger salute to the crowdsin Bay 20 at the SCG who were having ago at hiin.Thathe bas succeeded in rattling tl1e Aussies is clear when the temperamentalDav.id\Varnersuggested heshould cool it down.Nevertheless, interestiJ1gtonote that aspell check on 'Virat'comesup with 'brat'.

\X/ithIPLin India allowingrhe Aussiesandotherinternational cricketers to interact with their Indian counterparts,.it is also good to know thatfriendships getfotmedacross the playing boundaries.During rhe current rour,MSDhoni catching up with Michael Clarkefor a private BBQ and discussingDhoni'slove for motorbike� is good to note.Perhaps there's hope yet for Kohli and\.'("/arner to be cliscussing thetanni.nsin good red wme.

Till thathappens,wishing all the teams a terrificWorldCup. lndian Australians will befortunate enough to back two teams to win time to get a new wardrobe reflecting the green and gold of Australi.a and the deep blue colours of India.