Calcutta: Success comes at a price… Ask Cricket Australia (CA) and they would agree to that at once. With India losing three Tests against Australia in less than 10 days, CA is set to become broke as it has been left with a small fortune in terms of revenue generation from gate ticket sales, reported The Australian.

“A nation’s morale replenished, but coffers bear brunt of Indian summer,” screamed the heading of the report.

“After Sunday’s innings and 37-run win over India in Perth, it has taken (Michael) Clarke’s men only 9-and-a-half days to wrap up the Border-Gavaskar trophy. They have won three matches in less than the time allocated to play two,” the report highlighted.

Crowd attendance, however, has not been the problem. “Excellent crowds have turned out for the first two Tests, in Melbourne and Sydney, and again here at the Waca, with 14,352 paying to watch Sunday’s play, despite the very good chance — soon realised — that the Australians would roll up the remaining six Indian wickets before afternoon drinks.

“But if the players are costing Cricket Australia a small fortune in gate takings, they are more than compensating by what they are pouring into the country's morale, replenishing tanks that looked to be running dry,” the report said.

The report went to add how Clarke’s side, who were humbled by lower-ranked New Zealand a month back, have found their confidence back.

“Australia’s Four Pacemen of the Apocalypse — Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris and Mitchell Starc — reduced what had looked to be the strongest batting line-up in the world to rubble in Perth, dismissing them for 161 and 171.”

And that Clarke is in no mood to take it easy in Adelaide and ‘help’ CA was evident from his reaction when a scribe uttered the word “dead rubber”. “Take those words back, please,” he had said. “There’s no such thing as a dead rubber. We should be proud of this win, but we’ve got a lot of work to do before we’re satisfied.”