Ashes? Who cares? India vs Australia is the new cricket high

There was always something amazing about watching the Ashes, whether in England and Australia. Crowded stadiums, roars from audience members, while they chug their drinks, songs by the Barmy Army – you get the drift. For the purist, the Ashes still means something and thousands – myself included – will tune in to watch England battle Australia for what several have called Test cricket’s ultimate price – the Urn.

In 1996, a bilateral series between India and Australia was introduced. The Border-Gavaskar trophy, named after Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, began as an one-sided tournament. While the 1996 tournament comprised one Test match, and shouldn’t technically be called a series, the 1998 and the 1999-00 editions of the tournament were one-sided and the home side emerged triumphant on both occasions.

Then came 2001 – a series that many still consider the greatest cricket series ever played. After convincingly losing the first Test in Mumbai, India looked as if they would lose the second Test by an innings in Kolkata to give Australia a much needed series win in what Steve Waugh called ‘the final frontier’.

Those who saw VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid bat an entire day will remember moments. Laxman using his feet to play inside-out cover drives against Shane Warne, who was ripping the ball while bowling round the wicket; Dravid showing uncharacteristically aggressive behaviour after raising his bat to acknowledge the Eden Gardens (and people who stood up at home to applaud) after he scored his century. The partnership, of course, gave Australia a competitive target, and while everyone thought the match would end in a draw, Sachin Tendulkar took three wickets – Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne – to bring India right back into the game. When Harbhajan Singh got Glenn McGrath out, the vision of a cop in a crowd of 80,000 people still stands out.

While people talk of Kolkata, Chennai was the decider. And Harbhajan Singh, along with Tendulkar ensured that India won the series 2-1 – making this one of the greatest cliff-hangers in Test cricket.

Subsequently, the series in 2003 where India drew with Australia, thanks to the heroics of first Sourva Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar and Sachin Tendulkar saw India draw a series which a lot of critics expected them not to do. Although India could have won the series, a delayed declaration and fighting half centuries by Steve Waugh and Simon Katich ensured that the series ended in a draw.

Since 2001, India and Australia matches have been watched more intensely than the Ashes. Barring the 2011-12 series in Australia, and the 2013 series in India that were one-sided, the other series saw the home side winning, but the Test matches were exciting. Think about Virat Kohli nearly taking India to victory in the first Test played at Adelaide in the 2014-15 season and that is the quality of Test cricket that has been played by both sides.

The 2017 series is another example of the quality of cricket both sides play when they face each other. People had written Australia off, but Steve Smith and his men can go back home with their head held high because despite the off-field issues the players displayed, the cricket that we witnessed was out of this world. The third Test, in my opinion, proved to the world that Test cricket is alive and kicking. Cheteshwar Pujara scored a double century in over 500 balls, Australia losing two quick wickets on the penultimate day, and then going on to save the Test match showed us that a draw can result in as much excitement as a result. What’s more exciting was that Australia won on a spin-friendly track, while India won the Dharamsala Test, which was a wicket that had a lot for the quick bowlers.

The Ashes will always have its moments? From Ian Botham's heroics  in 1984 to Mitchell Johnson scaring the life out of the England batsmen during the 2013-14 season. But I'll still ask when India plays Australia next. Why? Because Ashes, my dears, was so yesterday!