Winning is not everything: Steve Waugh

By Malcolm Conn

CHENNAI, MARCH 22. Steve Waugh was beaten but unbowed after India staged one of the greatest fightbacks of all time over the past fortnight to win one of the most marvellous series ever played.

Reviving memories of the Tied Test between these two countries here 14 years ago, Australia's bowlers waded though the heat, humidity and noise of Chidambaram Stadium to create hope, only to see it snuffed out by a side which found character non- existent in Australia little more than a year ago.

It was fitting that young off-spinner Harbhajan Singh hit the winning runs, given the way he bowled so brilliantly through this match and series.

Later a drained and drawn Australian captain refused to talk of disappointment despite failing to achieve his ultimate goal of winning in India after an seemingly unmatchable 16-match winning streak. ``I think it was another feather in our cap the way we played today,'' Waugh said. ``India could have cruised to victory but we pushed them all the way. ``Winning is important but it's not everything. The way we played here was a tremendous credit to all the guys. I'm a little bit disappointed but not overly disappointed. All I said to the players this Test was as long as you give 100 per cent that's all I can ask.''

Debutant wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe, who halted the Indian collapse with a defiant, unbeaten 22, should be proud of the way he played at the end given his disappointing game with the gloves. He showed great heart for such a small man.

Regardless of his figures, the start for Australia again on Thursday was undoubtedly Jason Gillespie. He swung the game when India were cruising to victory. He produced lift so unexpected from this unforgiving pitch that even the great Sachin Tendulkar could do no more than glide the ball to Mark Waugh at second slip.

When a captain's innings was required to ease the pressure, Sourav Ganguly never looked capable of playing it. After a strange greeting from Ricky Ponting, who stood at silly point for no particular reason only two metres from Ganguly before retiring to the slips before the first ball was bowled, the local skipper managed only one scoring shot, an edge through slips to the boundary. His next edge off Gillespie flew to Mark Waugh at second slip.

Mark Waugh may have had a modest series with the bat but there has been few more important moments in recent Australian cricket than the peerless, diving catch he took to get rid of Laxman. Waugh launched himself to his right and was still airborne when he plucked the ball out of the air as if Laxman's ferocious pull off Miller had been an easy stroke.

The Australians also felt that Mark Waugh had caught them the game, for Laxman is the man who changed this series for India, defying Australia's pace and destroying the spinners, particularly a disappointing Shane Warne.

Enter Harbhajan, who has now done just about everything in this series. His name will forever figure prominently in the record books after the most amazing fortnight. He deserves to savour the moment but will surely realise that life is not always like this.

So great was the spell that Harbhajan cast over the Australians in this series that the Australian Cricket Board should consider permanently basing an extension of its famous cricket academy in India. Every promising young batsman in Australia should spend some weeks in India playing, training and touring to overcome a consistent failure against spin in Indian conditions.

When Harbhajan began this series he was anything but a regular in the Indian team. From his debut against Australia on the last tour three years ago he had played just eight matches and taken a modest 21 wickets at 38.57.

Now, suddenly, he is the best spinner in the world, or so it would appear given the way the Australians batted against him. It would be a fairer assessment to suggest that Harbhajan brutally and brilliantly exploited Australia's inadequacy against quality spin on Indian pitches.

Steve Waugh attempted to defend an inconsistent batting performance against slow bowling here. ``I thought we played the spin pretty well. They had a couple of good sessions where they got on a roll,'' Waugh said. ``Over here the crowd tends to lift the home side and it creates a little bit more pressure on a new batsman. There are probably things we can learn but we improved our play against spin during this series.''

There was no guarantee that Harbhajan would be picked given his previously inconsistent career. ``We thought he'd play but we didn't think he'd take 32 wickets. Good luck to him, it was a great performance,'' Waugh said.

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