Test cricket enters its toughest week

BCCI is evil. Australians get ugly on the field. Indians are not timid anymore. Not enough preparation time. Too many Tests crammed together. Home advantage. Whitewash predictions. Digs at Australia's performance in the UAE, and at India's in England. Abusive crowds. Flipped birds. DRS. Mudgal Committee report. Conflict of interest. All this has seemed silly over the past two weeks, yet there is no one who would not have preferred that build-up to what has transpired.

Phillip Hughes practically died on the pitch of a ground that will host a Test in the series. He was 25. He was trying to pull a ball that had nothing monstrous or out of the ordinary about it. He was early into the shot. Batsmen don't as much as shrug after such blows. There is no sadistic pleasure being derived in repeating these things; they are just impossible to forget. In times of such unprecedented and unparalleled uncertainty the cricket must resume. To go through the most uncomfortable Test any of these players has played in his life is the only way to feel comfortable again.

It has taken the administrators - and both the boards deserve a pat on their backs for having co-operated - a long time to decide when and where. People will have their own version why, their own reasons for the cricket to resume. Who will play is not yet decided; two days before the first coin toss, neither team is sure who is going to captain it. Players can, and will, be found, though. There will be enough numbers. But how? Just how will these players play?

Cricket is entering its toughest week in recent times, but it is a week that it must enter. Almost everybody will have inner demons. New Zealand didn't bowl a bouncer all day against Pakistan when they resumed their Test two days after Hughes died, but these teams have had the time to process the tragedy, and have had counselling to help them get back on the horse. Bowlers have been bowling a lot of bouncers at practice, trying to get rid of all hesitation before they do it in front of a crowd, but a nervous man can clear his dry throat all he wants, the first words still give the nerves away. Batsmen will be worried. David Warner couldn't complete a training session the first time he came back on the field. A few Indian batsmen tried to put up a brave face and give rehearsed answers, but Suresh Raina spoke about how for the first time his family and friends have asked him to stay safe while playing cricket. "We are entertainers," he said. "Nobody really attempts to hurt another."

It is often claimed that Test cricket is the sport that most closely resembles life. Over the coming few weeks it will ask the players questions that only life can ask. If India win the toss and are 2 for 200 on a hot first day, what will the lonely Australian fielder at third man be thinking in the final session? Will he still find all this worth it? Australia have shown time and again they need to be intimidating to be at their best. How will they manage now? India will want Warner's wicket early, but will they consider his emotional turmoil as a factor when they plan for it? What complex scenarios will emerge once the first ball is bowled we have no idea of.

It will be difficult to watch too, but it must be watched. Will those fans of fast bowlers who loved watching the batsman hop still be able to watch the bouncers bowled now that they have been reminded what damage a cricket ball can do despite the protective equipment? In the practice game late last week, M Vijay ducked into a bouncer, and was hit on the part of the helmet that covers the left ear. Nobody other than the two teams and a few journalists was watching. What if someone is hit during the Adelaide Oval Test? How will the crowd react?

We must go through all this to reinforce that what happened to Hughes was a freak accident. That cricket will continue, bouncers will go on, players will be hit, sledging will be done. Still someone needs to walk into the dark room first to show to the rest there are no ghosts or ambushers inside. Then again, what if there are?

Those who are not ready must be given their time, like India have given Australia. By the time the first ball is bowled on Tuesday, India will have been in the country for 16 days with hardly any competitive cricket - their warm-up games of football are more competitive than the two-day tour matches they prefer to playing first-class games against first-class teams. In the coming 32 days, they will play four emotionally sapping Tests.

In the terrace behind the press box at Old Trafford earlier this year, when India were meekly rolling over, a visibly frustrated - with India's effort - Shane Warne asked me where the first Test in Australia was going to be. Brisbane, he was told. "Three days. These boys can't take it to the fourth at the Gabba," he said. It seemed a fair call at the time to not expect India to compete. Things have changed since then. Australia have lost two Tests in the UAE themselves. Cracks have appeared in their team, with Michael Clarke evidently not on the same page as the selectors. Hughes' death has left them in an emotionally vulnerable state. India are still expected to struggle, but now you never know.

At last, though, we have started thinking of the first XIs and the team strategies. Will both the regular captains make it in time for the first Test miraculously? Will India's slip cordon show any signs of improvement? Or their batsmen's technique against bounce and movement. How good will Ryan Harris be after a knee injury nearly ended his career? Will Australia go for the promise and youth of Josh Hazlewood over the persistence of Peter Siddle? Will Nathan Lyon be as effective against India as Moeen Ali was?

It feels good to be pondering these things finally. The first ball of the series can't be bowled soon enough even though nobody can be quite prepared for it.