‘Down Underdogs’ review : Feel-good docuseries recaps India’s epic 2020-21 Test series win in Australia

The series marks the first anniversary of the Indian cricket team’s 2-1 victory over Australia, culminating in a pulsating climax at Brisbane

Close on the heels of the blockbuster 83 comes another feel-good film on Indian cricket, this time a four-part docuseries on India’s unprecedented jailbreak in Australia not too long ago. To mark the first anniversary of India’s 2-1 victory, culminating in a pulsating climax in Brisbane, host broadcasters Sony Pictures Network have come out with their in-house production, Down Underdogs – India’s Greatest Comeback, releasing from January 14 across their bouquet of sports channels.

Victory in the 1983 World Cup is arguably Indian cricket’s greatest underdog story, purely going by the lack of expectations from the public and many of the players themselves at the time. When India entered Australia’s shores in 2020 for four Tests, it was a different scenario. A Test team on the upswing was expected to defend their series win in the same country in 2017-18, this time however against a stronger Australian side, on paper.

The opening Test in Adelaide ebbed and flowed, with no side gaining any distinct advantage, until it all came apart for India in one manic session of wickets on a sunny, third morning. India folded for 36, the country’s lowest-ever innings Test score. Commentators failed to see how the team could bounce back, without regular captain and talismanic batsman Virat Kohli, who was flying back home for the birth of his first child.