What do you call a sporting team that tours Down Under and are clear underdogs? Down Underdogs.
That‘s what Sony Pictures Network are calling their new docuseries, based on the Indian cricket team’s 2-1 victory over Australia in 2020-2021.
The 4-part docuseries, released on 14 Jan 2022, marks the first anniversary of the test series victory.
It is titled Down Underdogs – India’s Greatest Comeback. Who can forget the disaster in the Adelaide test, that incredible resurgence in Melbourne and Sydney, and that final flourish in Brisbane, called the ‘Gabbatoir‘ because Australia has never lost a match there in decades.
An so the series has four episodes, titled The Adelaide Aberration, Melbourne Magic, The Sydney Siege and Brisbane Breached.
The series features interviews with commentators and journalists Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Nick Knight, Isa Guha, Vivek Razdan, Ayaz Memon and Joy Bhattacharjya. Two Australian voices are heard: Lisa Sthalekar and Michael Clarke.
Two Indian players also are interviewed, Hanuma Vihari and Mohammad Siraj.
In the wake of a much-hyped trip down memory lane for the Hindi film 83 – marking a milestone anniversary of a milestone cricket win for India – Down Underdogs is expected to attract attention in a cricket-mad nation.
The 2021 Border Gavaskar Trophy win, in Australia no less, will be memorable for many a reason.
It came as a struggling team – posting their lowest ever Test innings score, facing taunts from their opponents and racist abuse from the crowds, and finally a pummelling by the bowlers – rose from a predicted humiliating defeat to win the series, breaching the Gabba fortress enroute.
It was one of Indian cricket’s greatest ever comebacks and certainly one of its most historic victories, even greater then the 1983 World Cup win according to the team’s coach Ravi Shastri (who incidentally, played in that history-making win in 1983).
READ ALSO: Indomitable India: Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-2021
