Consequent to a game of cricket played for a little over four days at Mohali, three things transpired from it - 1) Haroon Lorgat's lament,Express India 2) India's massacre of Australia,Biggest by Runs and 3) good friend Scorpi gained opportunity to narrate to us an Australian fan's awestruck discovery of the real world, or almost real world.CricketFizz That's a lot from a game of cricket and best begin with the game.Like all recent victories India has registered, this one too bore the same characteristics. If one were to try and pick out the match-winner as per the usual India tradition, it would take one ages and much hair-splitting semantics without a convincing conclusion. That's because everyone contributed throughout the game, his important mite, towards the greater collective good of all. From the most infant of the team toddler to the grizzliest of veterans, it is hard to find anyone who hasn't played his role to such perfection as to turn the match so emphatically India's way.If it was the old firm of Sachin and Sourav in the first innings to rescue India, aided and abetted by their youthful captain - Dhoni, it was followed up by the young combo of Sharma and Mishra. Zak ensured the game never went out of control by quickly accounting for Hayden once again. The importance of Matt The Bat lies in the fact that he is the only batsman in the entire Australian team to have played successfully in India before. The others were either abject failures or complete novices touring for the first time - that though, cannot be provided as an excuse to an all-conquering, forever-dominating world champion team, even if one wished.Watson played the best he could for Australia and so did Siddle. Hussey was standard issue. But all put together it wasn't a team: Australia wasn't a team playing or scrapping to win, playing or fighting for pride.As records tumbled on the provocation of some Indian players and new ones set up in their place, spots exchanged - not just in the batting order with amicability, but also in the Indian all-time batting list and debut bowling performances - the Australian captaincy is rumored to have preferred petulance over Lee. Such, is said to have been the disarray within the Australian team, and it is no surprise that there was a distinct lack of cohesion and a concerted effort at application. The matter of petulance was later denied by the team spokespersons but that is only natural and understandable.Was it good bowling which sent back the mighty Australian batsmen? Was there a degree of complacency among them? Was it lack of skill? Or was it extreme distraction?There was terrific bowling, yes, some brilliantly ballsy cricket bowled by India - Ishant's mastery over Ricky, Zakasutra, Mishra - The Wizardly Muggle, who lobbed undecipherable spells after another to torment the unreading batsmen, or the forever blood-lusted Harbhajan who this time quietly and effectively channelized his instinct to dominate with greatly telling blows that wasted the Australian juggernaut's hopes at the start of the second essay - this was a match marshalled by an instinctive general to whom his men responded. No surprise that it had all the ingredients of a great story and all the roles were well fleshed-out and clearly defined.In all this, Australia was missing and even cricket followers sensed it, let alone the Indian team.Scorpi tells us an Australian fan was feeling a humbling experience for the first time. I quote Scorpi who quotes in turn - "The most significant observation came from an Aussie cricket fan 'So this is how the world feels when they played against Australia for a decade.' Golden words!".Hogwash! That Australian fan, he/she, cannot know what the world felt or how it suffered the Ozzies, on and off the field. The distortion of this game of cricket which was consistently legitimized by their winnability, that distortion sought to be legalized and installed as a "humorous" "tough" "Australian" tradition of the game, like Bushism - they were the original Bushnot George W himself - and how we suffered the cowardly umpires sucking up to an aggressive team, country and its manipulative jingistic media over the years...this Australian fan will have to be reborn somewhere other than Australia to truly understand. Just like Bush will have to be born as an Eye-rak-eee to truly understand the effects of bushism.Nothat Australian fan does not know, cannot know, and will never know how the world felt when playing Australiaever! The world doesn't do on its own what Australia wantonly did to cricket and sporting spirit. Enough caterwauling from me about "that" portion of the legacy Australia has created and left behind forever; instead we turn our attention to Lorgat's distressed warning and Bindra's introspection. CricinfoThere is natural fear, for ICL has become a prickly thorn. And can you prevent an augmentation of resources by a hypothetical Stanford-ICL tie-up in the future or some other enterpreuner stepping alongside? Or can you ignore that the local boards have taken the fun out of cricket watching to such a degree that nobody wants to be imprisoned without water or food for the entire day. No pen, no phone, no Insulin shot, no first aid, no nothing....after paying though your nose and braving all hardships (read the local security arrangements, their gaalis and dandaas, the superciliousness of the local cricket association members who mock at your troubles by allowing free access to every corner of the ground to their kith and kin (you can see them walking alongside the ropes or mingling with the players with moblies and comforts where they squat)...it's certainly not worth it. With rare candour, IS Bindra acknowledges. I'd like to believe he means what he says but I cannot shake off the feeling that nothing will come out of his "introspection."Test cricket audience is bound to dwindle under such circumstances. People may brave it all for a few hours of slam-bang, but nobody but the committed will come. That's the reality...either loosen up some factors, make tickets cheaper...make it a joyfully memorable experience for the spectator to come and watch a test match so that he'll come again and bring others; so that he'll make it one of his recreational habits. If boards act like goondaas, they'll get a massive thenga from the public.Then there is the issue of what kind of teams are playing. Nobody will come and watch mismatched teams. Nobody will undergo all that trouble for some ordinary cricket play. And in this specific case, Australia had already advertised their poverty last year!The mediocrity of this team was evident last year itself where only BB-que white-aproned chefs cooked up a series win for the hosts. A few months later when the grip of off-field controversies and synthetic angst stopped beiong dispensed...the reality became obvious. The world realized this Australian team was not a patch, ability-wise, on their past teams. And after everyone cooled down through the months and having seen the first test with enthusiasm, it was obvious to one and all that this was going to be an average series. Nothing to look forward to other than the pleasure of having won against Australia yet again. People will point out quickly that ustralia won here last - let me remind them that that was with their key performers in peak form against an Indian team not at its best. Not one of those key peak-performing men are here now except Hayden...and he's dwindled significantly from his 8ft 10inch frame. Ponting was never an ace performer and this is as flukey as that Australian series win n four decades.So Mr.Lorgat, let us get some things straight - 1) test cricket will have to have a compulsive reason to draw in crowds...that could be two evenly-matched teams with great performers. That's top most...you could have asked in this specific case - "Where are the Australians?" just as you asked istead for the crowds 2)the cost and comfort factor is important - the world is different, comfort should be for the consumer not the adminstrators/sellers of the product...the consumer is aware of this. The product should be viably priced...test cricket will have to price itself lower than a T20 or 50/50. get used to that idea. Allow spectators decent toilets, ready clean affordable water (India is a hot country), ditto for food, comfortable seats, polite police and security and assoc members who must welcome their clients into their shop and buy their product(at least that should be the spirit) 3) Allow for working conditions, state of world economy and increasing competition for survival which force people to work more rather than take a day off and spend their money meaningfully rather than inflict some masochistic experience upon themselves. Leisure is not easy in today's world...and you want us to spend our hard-earned money on it, expend a valuable day off on your poor quality product, and endure the hardships you pile upon us. Hey, one cannot even take a photograph for nostalgia's sake anymore unles you belong to the family of association goons! Get those things sorted out, spend a bit more on your customer who is going to feed your business, and learn to respect him. It's that simple really to have greater crowds. If you want the moon and have it too, you've got to work for it and provide quality...ask the chaps at ISRO who worked their way through many troubles to the moon.Chandrayaan They made it happen rather than expect it to happen on its own.India vs Australia 2008-09, Round-up, 2nd Test at Mohali.Soulberry, N.Balajhi, Mikesiva, Medium-Pacer @tcwj.blogspot.com   read more »