For Team India - A Tale of Three Rubbers

2nd April 2011 was a day for Indian fans to remember. After nearly three decades we lifted the greatest prize in cricket (the top team in Tests) and it was seen as the stepping stone to even bigger glory. But the Indian team flattered to deceive. Since then we have played 5 Test series, won 3 and lost 2. Not alarming numbers but statistics don't tell the whole story.

The two series India lost were both overseas and they were not defeats but annihilations. If England was an accident then Australia was a massacre. Eight Test defeats on the trot overseas does not look good for a team that was expected to set the benchmark for world cricket.

So what is the point that one is trying to make? Test Rubbers. Yes, the ultimate prize in the oldest format of the game where you claim the right of a series over your opponents until the next meeting. India had done well over the past decade to win each and every Test Rubber but all that went down the doldrums in the recent past.

A flashback.....

In 2006 India toured South Africa defending their rubber won 2 years before. They got off to the best start with a win in the first Test. But alas! It was too good to be true. What followed was the typical habit of squandering the advantage and ultimately losing the series 1-2. Since then all the series played between them have ended in stalemate meaning the Proteas still have the number on us.

The rubber was taken from England way back in 2001 and Australia was deprived of their prize in 2008. Team India was clearly on the rise. But pride comes before the fall and the fall was yet to come.

2011-12 saw the Men in Blue all at sea against world class bowling and champion like batting in the land of the Poms and Down Under. Eight Tests going down in the row meant that as of now India have 6 out of 9 Test Rubbers. So is it a mere coincidence that the next three series to be played from November 2012 to November 2013 feature these three teams? Or is it fate and a chance at redemption? A chance for Team India to shed the tag of paper champions once and for all.

Back to the present......

The challenge starts with hosting England in a four Test series at home. It is already being billed as the 'Revenge' series etc. but for India it is the first step at climbing back up the ladder to the pedestal from which they were brought down. What follows are four Tests against the Aussies again at home. While England may be a walk over (with all due respect to the England Team) Australia will be a bigger threat. While the Aussies have not won a Test in India since 2004 their recent form means one cannot take them lightly. However with home advantage and quality spinners India could brush them aside too.

Hypothetically speaking, if India get past these two, their next hurdle comes up against the uncrowned champions of world cricket. Yes, I am talking about the South Africans. This team has fared better than others in recent years in India. So imagine how difficult they would be to handle in their own backyard. The two home series may be hard fought but it is that one overseas series which will determine India's progress. They will be keen to avoid a hat-trick of overseas losses.

So there you have it! The three rubbers which India are aiming for. Should they be successful the mantlepiece shall be complete. If not then it is back to the basics. But going a step back is not the solution at a time when your opponents are going forward.

That has been the tale of Indian cricket. From riches they went to rags because of two devastating losses abroad. What better way to regain lost glory than by overcoming the very obstacles that brought them down? It shall be an interesting journey and of course won't be easy. For no story is without its challenges and this is no ordinary one, it is the Tale of Three Rubbers.