Life after Ricky Ponting truly begins for Michael Clarke this week in what looms as the acid test of his captaincy.
He’ll attempt to become just the second man in 43 years to lead Australia to a series triumph in India, and will do it without the guidance of Ponting on foreign soil for the first time in his Test career.
The Australian great has been with Clarke on every one of his away tours since he made his debut nine years ago.
In fact, it’s the first time since Alan Border’s 1986 contingent an Australian team has toured India without Ponting – a series famous for the tied Test at Chidambaram Stadium in which Dean Jones batted himself into a Chennai hospital with a herculean 210 from 503 minutes of toil.
What impact Ponting’s absence has on the Australian dressing room is an interesting sub-plot to what will be a fascinating series.
Like so many giants of sport he had an aura. An ability to inspire those beside him to walk taller, feel capable, believe – merely by being in his presence.
No longer will they feed off his energy at training. His intensity at second slip – that impression he’d slap his own mother if it meant victory for Australia.
Ponting’s ruthless competitiveness will forever be remembered as much as his pull shot.
In Clarke’s News Limited column after Ponting retired in November, he said “He did so much the world never saw. The time he gives his team mates, the advice he offers, the help he gives you at training, he picks you up when you are down, he gives you a kick up the backside when you need a kick up the backside. For me he exemplified the model cricketer with what he did off the field.”
This void is perhaps an overlooked element in the enormous challenge facing Clarke and Australia.
Yet not even a once-in-a-generation talent like Ponting could master the red dirt of India.
As a batsman he was tormented by Harbajan Singh despite being a brilliant player of spin, averaging just 26.48 from 14 Tests with only one century.
Compare that to his remarkable home average of 86.04 from 15 Tests against India including seven tons and two doubles.
He was a cursed captain as well.
During the 2004 tour a broken thumb forced him to watch on as his stand-in Adam Gilchrist became the first man since Bill Lawry in 1969 to lead Australia to glory on the subcontinent.
Australia then lost the dead-rubber fourth Test when Ponting returned. He tried twice more to conquer these shores in 2008 and 2010 only to fail, continuing his macabre run.
Clarke has fonder memories of India, none greater than his majestic 151 on debut in Bangalore in the opening Test of the 2004 series.
He will have to repeat such a performance more than once this campaign if he is to achieve what many believe is beyond his young team.
The retirements of Ponting and Mike Hussey in quick succession has effectively cut 247 Test caps of cricket nous from beneath him.
It prompted Pakistan pace legend Wasim Akrim to describe Clarke’s group as “the most inexperienced Australian team I have seen in my life”, and rate it next to no chance of succeeding in India.
The Turbanator Singh – cleverly recalled by India for this series – has predicted a 4-0 whitewash. “They (Australia) are even getting beaten on their home grounds consistently,” he told the Indian press last month.
The fitness of opening blaster David Warner (thumb) ahead of Friday’s first Test in Chennai only adds to the mounting pressure on Clarke.
Examinations of his leadership won’t get more thorough than what he’ll face over the next six weeks, and he won’t have his old mate Punter there to lean on.
Mark Murray is a Melbourne-based journalist and lifelong sports nut. He is currently on the subcontinent covering Australia’s cricket tour of India. Follow Mark on Twitter
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