It was a frustrating morning of waiting in Brisbane as heavy downpour allowed very little cricket on the opening day of the third India-Australia Test in Brisbane. Only 13.2 overs were bowled and the fans got their umbrellas out, put the raincoats on but held on to their beer and enjoyed their Saturday morning, even if it was without any cricket.
With the players rushing indoors, the gentleman on the live grill was aggressively dishing out the sausages to the thousands who had come for a big fat party!
Amid all this, former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden‘s daughter was casually strolling in the corridor with very little cricket a dampener for her too. The 22-year-old, however, was still up for a chat on cricket and touched upon her love for India, the food and the spices.”I love India. I always heard a lot about India growing up from my dad, he still brings spices home. So I’d always be trying Indian food. I love a dal curry and a roti. Love your roti. Dad would always bring India home to us. So people would always say to me, you know, ‘did you struggle at first with Indian food?’ And I said, ‘No, I love it’,” said Grace in a candid chat with TimesofIndia.com.
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Having watched a lot of cricket herself on the television, and even from the ground, she follows the circuit very closely and is a big fan of India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant. It took her half a second to name Pant has her favourite cricketer from this Indian team and it was the youngster’s return from the horrific car crash which continues to be an inspiration.
“I think his comeback story has been sensational. We saw him go as the most expensive player in IPL history just recently. And yeah, we all saw the vision of the accident, and for him to come back and still start and even make this incredible team is just credit to him. The hard work, determination, mentally that would have been really tough to come back from. Obviously I’m Australian, but I’m proud of him, and he obviously has great strength as a player, as a person. He’s always been exceptionally lovely. He’s definitely an inspiring player,” says Grace.
Pant is definitely a crowd favourite in this part of the world but the same can’t be said about Mohammed Siraj. The seamer was constantly booed when he stood on top of his run-up today and even while the series has been a bit low-key on the onfield drama, the Travis Head-Siraj episode definitely injected some fire. Has the IPL, like the rain today, dampened the intensity between these two sides as compared to the years gone by?
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“I think because the IPL is around, these players are playing together more often. They’re intertwining all the time. But I think when you are stepping onto the field playing for your country, none of that matters, and it always has been the case you want to win for your country,” said Grace and added that her father himself was a fierce competitor on the field but completely different off it.
“My dad is a big teddy bear giant. Like when you actually meet him in person off the field… but as soon as he stepped on the field, he was like a new person,” added Grace.
The ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy is locked at 1-1 but Grace reckons Australia are going to pocket the next three Tests to make it 4-1. For that to happen, cricket has to happen and that wasn’t the case on the opening day at The Gabba.
