Contrast that with Australia. Brad Haddin apart (and he too, only as wicketkeeper), there has not been a worthy replacement for their recent retirements from Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and others. While the Indian fast men, especially Ishant Sharma rose above the conditions to trouble the batsmen, Brett Lee actually took a couple of steps backwards as the spearhead of the attack, and till Jason Krejza came along in the final match, there was no one who looked capable of taking wickets by the bagful.

Australia have not looked so rudderless for a long time. Ricky Ponting’s run-out in the final innings was the final straw on a woeful tour where a combination of a poor bowling attack and his own inept handling of it meant that his team seldom threatened.

The No. 1 team in the world did not look the part psychologically, and the captain must bear the major share of the blame. True, he lost three of the four tosses, but he was outwitted by a captain who had both the luck and the pluck to make use of that luck.

Victory is the final justification. And by winning, Dhoni ensured that some of his negative tactics, like bowling with eight on the off side on the third day, or slowing down the bowling rate on the final day, appeared like necessary strategy. Ponting’s decision to let India off the hook after tea on the fourth day when he didn’t bring his fast bowlers on now appears selfish and downright ridiculous. Dhoni gambled on dismissing Australia before the final hour in which case the over-rate would not become an issue to hang him on, while Ponting refused to gamble, erring on the side of excessive caution. In the end, Australia did not deserve to win if only because the No. 1team should be made of sterner stuff.

Despite the 2-0 result, this wasn’t the greatest series played by India. The home side were clearly superior despite their annoying habit of sometimes letting things drift on the field. But it has been a great start for Dhoni, the spiritual heir to India’s most successful captain, Ganguly.

Hi Suresh,

While India's performance was clearly dominating, let us not get overly excited about this as a portender of India's ascendancy in Test cricket. India has shown this sort of one-series dominance in the past, only to fall flat on their face in the following series. They are not known for their consistency. Only the WI teams of 70s and 80s and Australian teams of 90s and 2000's have shown the consistency which is the hallmark of the champions. India still has a long way to go. But in MS Dhoni, they might have the right kind of leader to do just that.

Suresh, does overconfidence comes naturally to you or is it something you've aquired over the years? I am an indian fan but come on...

Australians are struggling right now with their stalwarts in retirement but it won't be long before Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are gone. And their replacements are (in your opinion)

Vijay - 1 Test, too early to say anything.
Yuvraj - Monument of failures at test level.
Rohit Sharma - Promising but ultimately untested.
Mishra - While he may have picked few wickets, he is no kumble. He will be railed abroad.
Sreesanth - All theatrics no substance.
Munaf - This guy is Arjen Robben of cricket. Always injured. He has proved big fat nothing so far.
RP Singh - Decent bowler, but he is no akram. Not even close.

The balance will be restored soon, you can count on that. And if you choose not to publish this post, I will understand.

Brad Haddin is no worthy replacement for Gilly. Haddin in fact needs to be dropped for his wicket keeping alone (or the lack of it). He throwing the gloves at the ball, conceding byes all the time and not moving swiftly to leg side are all pointers to his lack of skills. I think, he will get the axe

I think Dhoni's toughest test will come against England though. In Harmison, Broad and Flintoff they have a bowling outfit capable of taking 20 wickets; something the Australians couldn't do and eventually resulted in a serious loss.

We'll get a far better idea of how well this Indian team will adapt without Ganguly and Kumble against a rejuvenated England side. Don't be too surprised if India and England read the two best test playing sides this time next year. Time will tell though, let's not jump on a bandwagon!

Nothing to deny from what has been said in the article apart terming bowling wide outside off stump as an negative tactics. If we have bowled outside leg on the rough and didnt give the batsmen any chance of scoring then its a negative tactic. But on Day 5 the Australians when they want to win the match played across the line against pacers and reverse swept the spinners which they would have adapted in the first innings itself. Apart this Suresh has given due credit to all. Kudos...

Day before yesterday you described harbajan and all as arrogant.Now you are telling that they are so good.With in one day how your opinion changed.Harbajan is always an agressive player and not the arrogant as you are saying.if you don't have a consistent opinion about anything please stop writing for blogs.No body is going to listen what you are going to say.But why iam writing some how yesterday i saw ur comments in this blog..that is why..NOt every one is not a fool like you.. Simply blaming indian players..If you are that much admirer of krejza , go to Australia and stay there..

Good article with good points as well. We definitely didn't play to the level best with all those dropped catches. It was indeed good to see the team gel as a unit. I however would avoid jumping the gun and showering accolades on Mishra straight away. His fielding isn't the best and he will need to consistently perform to actually reach a standard set by Kumble.

The rub of luck had in the past favoured the ausies. I have watched in despair, that every move they made in the past 15 or so years, becoming a sucess. Not one captain, but four, if we count from the turnover Border did, has had the rub of green. Ganguly seemed a plucky character and some times he too got the rub og green his way. He will always be fondly remembered as the Dada. Dhooni seems to have the rub of green right with him, starting with the T-20 WC. What he may need to learn, unlike Ponting, is to show plenty of character and grit, when the chips are down. He certainly seems to have the material in him.

India was the better team, but not by much. In the one toss that we lost, we struggled and if not for a partnership between Zaheer and Harbajan, we would have lost the first match. And this is not the strongest Indian team by a long way. True our fast bowling is good now, and we have solved the problem of opening batsmen at last and we have a true wicketkeeper-batsman. But our traditional strength in the middle order and in spin are worrying. Dravid is struggling and Tendulkar - well below his best- he was okay against this line up, against a Mcgrath he would have struggled. Same for Ganguly. Harbajan is no longer a real threat and in the presence of a match referee, his weapons are limited. Amit misra has had a bit of beginners luck common to spinners and his real battle would begin now when people know what to expect. The truth is, it was a much hyped between two teams- both well past their prime.

Do you kno anything such as Grace? Why in the world you use words like Negative Tactics, when India had Aussie out in a day with less then two hundred runs?

I am sory but you have disappinted me again. I will not waste my time reading your blog again

it is indeed a smoother transition. talk about rivalry i think ind-aus rivalry is now no. 1 in test cricket followed by ashes and ind-pak. it makes me feel proud that India as a team convinced the cricket lovers that they are the one who shattered the arrogance of so called no. 1 test team in the world. never seen a aussie captain under so much of pressure i wont be suprised if people asking for punters head back home as aussie are ruthless in their approach.
Las but not the least Sourav Dada who retired in this test i would like to thankj him for changinf the face of India cricket and also grooming likes of sehwag, yuvi and bhajji. the cricket world will miss your off drives and sixes. All the best for your future and please come back soon as commentator. looking to see u at the earliest.

I don't care about the cynical stratergy used by msd, in the end it got us the match and the series, hence it is by logic correct. i like msd and his attitude to win by all means. that makes a champion and i have full faith that india are the next world beaters.

Commentators change their tune after each series. India have deservedly won this series an all is OK on the transitions, a little different from the tune played by 'pundits' after the Sri Lanka series. It is difficult to make out how things are going, but current feeling does look positive. Worthy successor Dhoni?. Well, his wider-vision this afternoon to let Ganguly take the captaincy for the final few overs is the mark of a brave and intelligent gentleman. True class.

Dhoni is a real successor of Ganguly, he got luck and annovative ideas apart from brave heart as of
Ganguly. Best wishes for Dhoni & co. and offcourse team india.

It was a good series for India. Every player contributed to their best although the seniors were in little tensional controversies. Good for Indians and of course for them. If all the players feel so easy and try to be in chemistry within their teammates there is a possibility of success. So if they realize this technique no physclogical issues from the opposite team can be eased. Then when in the field whether if batting, bowling or fielding there should be a determination and should never make the mind step down in any circumstance. If any low order in the minds happens it should be at once erected with others at once in order to free the minds. The captain of the team should have the open theory in giving and receving tips to and from his teammates in order to bound a strong realationship within. These are my valuable comments for the Proud Indian Team. So wishing all the best for now and very best for the coming matches. Some times a loose make more healthier for big wins. SO CHOA

Despite the loss Aussies are a tough team to beat and still No.1. Main reason for their downfall in this series has been some appalling decisions/tactics. Not playing Jason Krezja until the final test, general defensive approach and the post tea session on day 4 proved to be decisive. On the other hand Indian team appeared to be more prepared for the series and in Dhoni they have a captain who leads from the front and commands respect from the team. The same cannot be said of Ponting's team. Having said that Ponting is a good captain but pressure got to him and his bowling attack let him down. Its time for some introspection for the Aussies. What goes up, always comes down, circle of life! They cant remain No.1 always, much like the US who are facing ultimate test of character in the economic crisis.
Maybe its India's time to be at the pinnacle, having already achieved the financial muscle for boardroom politicking. That said Team India is known for their inconsistent performance.

It is not easy to replace the retired greats. What Oz had coming into this tour is a bunch of fresh faces (even Lee never bowled in India) that will define the next generation of Oz team. It was really sad to see Lee struggle, the one bowler who consistently troubled Indians. Johnson was consistent without ever threatening. I think Oz has a lot of positives out of this tour. With Krezja and Watson established, Katish at the top, Symmo returning (in place of White), and Lee back to his old turf to build up the confidence, Oz team is looking good once again. This tour was a good lesson for Oz new comers. They may have to look for a replacement for Haddin. With Clark and Siddle on the bench, I don't think Oz is any weaker. It is always tough to tour India, and to India's credit, they up the ante when they play Oz. Overall, it was the "adopting to conditions" was what did Oz in on this tour. Unfortunately, they were a bit late on that and it showed. Compare this Oz bowling to that of 2001.

Hello Menon. I am heartened to see a couple of nice words about Harbhajan after your last blog and strangely I am going to agree with you this time. Yes the transition has been smooth and India was cetainly lucky to have such replacements and the selectors have done a great job in blooding young stars. Thanks to IPL as it has thrown many young cricketers into the lime lite and also making cricket a viable career option for young stars. I think India are all poised to dominate world cricket for some time to come.

Ganguly is gone (and he left in style)... happy aren't we? So who you gonna attack Suresh? :)

the pitches were really bad, that was the problem. High time somebody put some life into those pitches, for test cricket's sake.

Sure looks great for India, for apart from M.Vijay there is Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kholi, not to mention Robin Uttapa,and Irfan Pathan waiting in the wings. The problem with India appears to be motivation. To be number one in the world you have to beat everyone consistantly both home and away. India don't show the same kind of motivation or application when playing say the likes of Sri Lanka. Maybe the new boys will put this anomaly right.

Mr Menon, this piece has left me disappointed. Extremely vitriolic most times, against India, I was surprised not to hear even a reprimand against Dhoni's tactics on day 4. This article is a pale shade of normal heckle rising pieces you write.
Going ahead, India should sit down, think long and hard, perform an excrutiating post mortem, as to why the series was not wrapped up in Delhi, why it took 4 days actually for Bhajji and Mishra to understand how to get the juice from this pitch and many more such unanswered questions.
I wish Dhoni the absoulute best for the future. I cannot wait for him, to take India to formidable hieghts.

Go india, we are the top, we are the best team ever

CHAKDE INDIA!!!

Isn't it too early to call Amit Mishra and M. Vijay successors of Kumble and Dada? Just because they've done well in their first series in home conditions against an unaustralian Australian side doesn't mean that they will necessarily go on to be legends like their predecessors. Indian cricket has seen false dawns in the past, so while we must enjoy the success that we've got, we must keep a realistic viewpoint of the future.

I'm a hardcore Indian cricket fan..but jus cant help feeling bad for the aussies. They have been magnificient the last decade(3 wrld cups in a row,countless series wins(both home n abroad), plus some fantastic individual performers..warnie,mcgrath,gilly(despite the sad book!). Now its dissapointing to see the likes of haddin,white,clark etc looking a pale shadow of those greats. Plus the backward step taken by Lee,hayden and ponting. Hope they dont go into some sore of a meltdown a la windies post 1995.

This is one of your best blogs. That too being an over statement.

Anyways, its too early to call Amit Mishra an heir to Kumble. Kumble has left a legacy which can not be filled with just 2-3 tests. Yes, he has got the potential, but whether he has got the spirit and attitude, only time will tell.

Thanks Menon, atlast I read something from your pen that was worth the time spent. At last!!!

the test series is over and india have proved that the gap between them and Australia as the best test team in the world is narrowed down. the last 7 weeks saw a battle, that went on in the mind, rather than in the field. the auusies tried all the mind games, and the indians gave it back on the cricket ground, where it mattered most.

the indians face a resilient engalnd team, who after their home win against proteas are confident, and the aussies go back home and engage the new zealand team, who surely will give a strong fight and make life tough for aussies. ricky ponting made lots of errors and its time he thought on behalf of his team rather than himself.

dhoni has to start thinking of a new strategy for the upcoming series. goodluck to the indian team. its now time for england to face the music.

Along with Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Sreesanth, don't forget Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan. We've got the best reserves as far as pace is concerned. Now if only India played to it's strength and started making some bouncy/pacy pitches in India.

Playing in india without even one specialist spinner will not win any matches for the players from overseas, Unless the odd thing of a grassy pitch is being played. Australia lost to india even before the match started. Rather than the australian captain going gaga over the aggressive cricket strategy they have just bolstered their batting with one extra batsman with White, Watson and Haddin replacing the mighty Symonds and Gilchrist. So in my opinion without adding a specialist spinner australia added some 30 runs with the cost of losing 100 runs to india(Added security of not losing 20 wickets, Hence not the match itself).
Again I cant think about India going overseas like australia with team strength as batting and a team full of good spinners & two part time medium pacers. I tend to believe that ironically thats the thing which the other way round had happened to the Aussies.
Lessons learnt I dont want england to play india with similar strategy. No matter how strong pacers are!

You make some good points. I feel that sterner tests are to come against England - they have a better bowling attack & spinner in Monty Panesar. Australia were a shadow - Lee & White were poor & Clark injued. I can't believe Krezja won MOM - at best , he's a average spinner & he got hammered!
Harbhajan had a better match & winning contributions.
All the best to Ganguly - he's been a good player. Lets be honest - both he & Kumble were shadows of their former selfs -right to go now.
I feel Dravid should be treated like Sehwag was - dropped to first class cricket to get into nick.He is still class & will come back better. For England, open with jaffer/ vijay with sehwag , then gambhir, scahin, laxman, yuvraj,dhoni.Bowlers were good, but Mishra's lax attempt & waddle when fielding should be frowned upon. The young lads need a rocket & should train to be athletic fielders - this pressurises oppositions even more& sends the right message of mental toughness & giving it all for the cause.

This writer calls Kumble-- the Statistically greatest bowler . I think he is out of mind . Kumble was the greatest bowler not by statistical standards alone.His perseverance and never say die attitude are hall marks of a great player.Even earlier this writer had written that kumble is good according to statistics.We know that greatness is not measured by this writer's statistical analysis.Criketing greatness is not measured by statistics alone Mr Menon. It is just one of the many tools. Kindly refrain from calling Kumble a Statistically great player.

It was the biggest win ever on Australia, not B'coz this was a 2-0 win but becouse as a team who came to you after winnig 14 regular series wins, came to an end with a totaly win less series, where it draws one practice & two series matches & lost the others. Where the ausies were never been lokked like as the No. 1 team as they normally behave like THE KING. They were on the floor for every minute of there tour. The caipten who told that they are here to teach India the modern cricket were nowhere in the game any where.
So, In the end..... congrates for all Indians and Dhoni eleven team & Only one line to Mr. Ponting,"Just try to moov your bat in the front of bowler in ground inspite of mooving your toungh in front of mike in media.

Fantastic article. But don't think there's a need to look out for No 3 so soon. If Dravid isn't in form, our very very special Laxman always can and should be No 3. And that would enable us to groom likes of Vijay properly. And I wonder whats happened to the likes of Badrinath and Raina and Rohit Sharma. Those guys are going to be enough competetion for Vijay there. In all it's quite exciting future as it looks now.

India won because they were a better all round team. Dhoni's tactical captaincy won the final test for India in the first Aussie innings. Indian batting did not fully expose the limitation of the Australian bowling by falling to rash strokes. Our batsmen fell to rash strokes rather than bowlers out foxing them. India could easily have scored over 700 in each of the innings after brilliant start given by the openers. If Symmonds was in the Aussie team the results may have had better for Australia. Australia never looked like world #1 team. If India played to their full potential the series woiuld have been a clean sweep 4-0. Anyway this side under Dhoni is easily the best in the world. Thay can prove this against England, which is likely to be much tougher series than against Aussies. I expect Raina, Rohit, Vijay and Yuvraj to replace the Fab 4. India may have to go to a left arm spinner to back Harbhajan otherwise the team will be the same. Congratulations to Dhoni and India.

This Australian team is definitely 'back with the pack' as Ricky Ponting so eloquently described. They don't look like a number one team and shouldn't be either. Admittedly, India still needs to acquit themselves better on different surfaces. As an India fan, I am excited by the future of this team as we are now reaping the rewards of years of improving conditions and staff. Ishant and Zaheer look like a pair more than capable of providing inroads into the best of batting sides, given their control and use of REVERSE SWING. Hopefully, the young prospective batsman will fill in just as nicely.

Suresh, cut the bloke some slack: aluding to Kumble as "statistically the greatest Indian bowler" is taking things a bit too far. For god's sake this man is the 3rd highest wicket taker in the world and India's proven matchwinner by cricinfo's own admission!

Congrates Team India and MSD.Pefect end for Dada and Jumbo.The way Dhoni gave dada Captaincy for the moment of glory was amazing.The moment he asked Jumbo to take Border Gavaskar Tropy was wonderful memory for all indian cricketers.thats the way to treat a captain and respect for seniors.In every India aus Series India always have edge on Aus but still Aus are no 1 beacuse they have best record and dominance all over world which is neither india nor SA have..England is Dark horse too.They all are only Champion of the days only.Now all Teams in world are going through transition..Hyden,JaySurya,Tendulkar,ChadraPaul, Kallis Dravid ,Murali are going to retire in couple of years.All teams are at same level So even chance and challege for all to be on top.But No one will have the era Aussies have.Bangaldesh in NZ recently showed how much thin diff is now..So guy's enjoy and some exiciting matches wll be coming next year.Forgot about class now just wait watch and forgot on next day.

Well written. Good to see you write postive things about the consolidating and conquering Indian Team.

Australia's transition was also pretty smooth until they reached India. So, I suppose, enjoy it while it lasts, and hopefully your honeymoon lasts longer than ours did. ;)

Australia need to respect Indian side.Ian Chappell talks about 8-1offside field he need to growup and take the defeat with the smile as they do winning.Ganguly is my hero he has done somuch for indian cricket and the way he was treated is unfoutunate but at end he left with pride and made india proud.One thing I must say why dont we hear about Greg Chappel.Australis hired him Indian tour and he suppose to be master what happend.India got great future Dhoni seems to bring youth and seniors together and for him to have Ganguly to takeover in last few overs shows lot of respect and maturity.

At a time like this, we should not dwell on the inadequacies of the Indian team. At such a major time in the history of Indian cricket, and when India has so efficiently dismissed the champs, Australia, we should all stand and salute our cricketers. Great job, well done, the sky is the limit now. GO INDIA GO!!

You have forgotten to mention the huge talent of Irfan Pathan who will be back better than ever soon enough, young Partiv Patel if Dhoni is unfit and Chawla who will learn and be better than Mishra - he has the right attitude. Yuvraj if he gets his head together can fill Dada's boots too. Indian cricket is in superb shape for sure

jumping to conclusions based on performances in one or two tests is precisely what has led to the downfall of many a promising face in Indian cricket.... examples include L.Balaji, Irfan Pathan, etc. All of what Mishra has played is 2 games, and what Vijay has played is 1 game; importantly, both at home. give them a while and various types of pitches to showcase their talent before reaching these 'conclusions'.

Sreesanth? Who is that?

One of the great virtues inculculated into Indians from a very young age is to respect one's elders. Dhoni is an excellent example of one who has been brought up according to our noble traditions. His carrying Kumble off the field, letting Ganguly captain the team for a few overs and his frank comments on how he revered the senior players are testimony to it.

We (as Indians) also believe that the blessings of our elders helps us in our lives -in that case Dhoni must be doing well, because he has as his 12th man the blessings of the senior players. It is this important factor which will help Dhoni in times of need.

He is a good example for young cricketers to follow.

I pray that he has a very long and successful term as captain of India and that during his term, India becomes the No 1 team in all three forms of cricket!
Siva from Singapore

Excellent result and well deserved win for India! Now they can take a few days to enjoy the success before the next battle begins.

All that said, the team still needs improvement...folding from 114/0 to 166/6 is terrible. Dravid needs cold storage for terrible performance with bat and fielding, Laxman and Ishant need catching practice (Laxman is dropping laddus), and Gambhir needs reminding that Cricket is a non-contact sport and will always be bigger than his growing stature!

Well done team India! Enjoy the next few days!

The Aussies lost their way. It is too early to say what the consequences will be. Temporary as Ashes 05 or more long lasting. I think they lost all four tosses. This was a very important factor. The Lee-Clark opening bowling partnership was not ready. Hayden had not returned from illness. Haddin is not convincing as a Test cricketer but he has big shoes to fill. Katich is not convincing as a test cricketer either. He does not use his head which is strange. He has a reputation as a fine person and a good cricket strategist. No sign of it in his play. Johnson did ok but he needs to work on getting swing back into the righthanders.
White was pilloried but I am keen to see more of him. He shows a lot of promise as does Krazy. Michael Clarke is not up to much and I regard as massively overrated. Ponting had a disappointing series as batsman and as captain. His decision on day 4 is bewildering. His explanation ridiculous. The coach must go. He has failed.

wholeheartedly agree with you. some of the blame has to go to the Australia coach for the lack of discipline and out of character nature which Australia played with. Too many average allrounders in a team which needed role players and match winners but produced neither.

Need to be careful not to be too hypocritical here - critics have lashed Ponting all series for slow over-rates, and it's a bit rich to criticise him in such strong language on the day he decided to try and do something about it! It is more pertinent to ponder why the sitaution arose so regularly, rather than the motivation in the post-tea session on day 4 (although tactical errors were made as well: if quick overs with the chance of a wicket were the order of the day, why not Katich ahead of White, Hussey, Clarke etc?). The fast bowlers were very poor (in fact, Watson was the pick of them over the whole series), and in that circumstance, Ponting was doomed to failure no matter how bold or imaginative his captaincy might have been. But I'm sure he looks forward to an improvement in that area, and reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar trophy on India's next trip to Australia!

The success of transition will complete when over the next two years Vijay replaces Dravid, rohit in place for Sachin, Raina on for VVS and Yuvi steps into the shoes of Saurav. Beware that the transition should be in a phased manner and time bound.

I wonder what happens to Rahul Dravid now. He's had a real torrid time with the bat, was terrible in his catching and many times looked as if his mind was somewhere else, not ficussed on the job on hand.

I sincerely wish that he comes out of this strange (for him) state very very quickly, else he's gonna find himself out of the team.

Dada, wish you the best in your new life as a retired cricket giant. Jumbo, pass on your great fighting qualities on to the new generation. As for SRT, what can one say, but doff our hats !!! I am truly scared to even think of Sachin calling it a day. India needs Sachin for a long time to come as I do not see RD and VVS around for more than a season max. The torch has to be passed on to the right kids like Rohit Sharma and Pujara. I hope the selectors rise above the regional quota system (unwritten but definitely there) and give these 2 young guns their due.

Finally MSD, have faith in your instincts and let your team give their best under you.

good to see my menon writting few nice lines about ganguly which is not he case very often. i ma sure it must have been tough for you the acknolwedge and write few good lines about him..as you never missed an opportunity to take a dig at him

Ya! Ganguly was a true captian in all senses and Dhoni is the true heir to him. Congragulations!!! MS and thanks to Ganguly for all the work done to bring the fire in Indian team.

I think the team will be tested, if we donot handle the transition for the middle order. Dravid seems to be barely hanging on, and though in good form both Sachin and VVS are potential injury targets. We really need to give some youngsters such as Raina, Rohit and Badrinath a chance in tests to ensure they have a chance of playing alongside the seniors and dropped in to the deep end.
I dont think Sreesanth is up to scratch for test cricket though, he needs to get the mental side of things right and concentrate on cricket rather than other performances

Hearty congrats to Team India on their all round performance and their most deserving win. By the bye, whatever happened to Greg Chappel? We got a glimpse of him during the B'loe match when the Aussies were doing well. After that, no sight or even a mention of his name anywhere. As a top ranking sportsman, I am sure he will now concede that, "He does NOT know a few things about Indian cricketers."

Congratulations to India. They deserved their victory. One series each is a fair reflection of the teams this year. Australia need to regroup, starting with far better team selection. Don't count them out like everyone did after the Ashes loss a few years ago, they are too good for that. As for India, they now have to go on and prove their worth - it takes more than one victory to be number 1, they need to routinely beat all sides.

A good analysis by Mr Menon on "The success of smooth transitions".. Every team will have to go through this stage at some point of time or other and for some teams, equal/better replacements are found, while in the case of others, the "fill up" takes a much longer time. The Australian selectors will have to quickly regroup a winning combination. The immediate need of the hour will certainly have to find an alternative wicket keeper to Brad Haddin, whom I feel is not a lasting solution to wicket keeping problems.

A good analysis by Mr Menon on "The success of smooth transitions".. Every team will have to go through this stage at some point of time or other and for some teams, equal/better replacements are found, while in the case of others, the "fill up" takes a much longer time. The Australian selectors will have to quickly regroup a winning combination. The immediate need of the hour will certainly have to find an alternative wicket keeper to Brad Haddin, whom I feel is not a lasting solution to wicket keeping problems.

How can you say that this wasn’t the greatest series played by India. The reasons you mentioned looked just like your own opinion and biased. If anything new is first done by Australia nobody makes a fuss out of it. Just see it as a different thing. But if India do anything new its a sin. Australia started sledging and say it as confident team and its part of game , but if India give back they say its the bad attitude. These days everybody became against India and shouting till hell as they cant bear an Asian team being on top. Just wake up guys the whole world is watching. Time to change your attitude and be mentally prepared to accept the truth.

Elation about current series is all right. If Australia had declared I Test at Bangalore at end of 4th day, they might have won. Last Test at Nagpur also if Australia had continued with regular bowlers on fourth day they might have won. True, India dropped a number of catches in the series. Hence jubiliation should not cloud the ground realities.

I don't understand what Krezja did wrong. First match against one of the best players of spin and he picked up 12. He has only started, give him time and he will fill in Warne's shoes. But yes, Aussies need Lee to fire and need Stuart Clark to return to prime fitness and form. It's not about being in the same mould and style of greats. It's about giving win-worthy performances time and again. When OZs have such players, nobody will miss McGrath or Warne. And yeah, isn't it a blessing in disguise that Bryce McGain had to pull out? They accidentally discovered a spinner who is young and has immense potential...after all, how long would have McGain played anyway?

Australia's below par performance in the recently concluded series was certainly not befitting to their stature as No.1 team. Bowling has been their most lethal & potent weapon in their journey to World No.1, which was missing in this series. Their performance is indicative of the fact that the power centre (as far as performance on the field is concerned ) is slowly but surely moving from Australia to India. The commendable performance by Indian team amply justifies their billing as `the most likely team to take mantle of World No.1 from Australians. The performance of this energetic team will be remembered for the years to com. Congrats Dhoni & team for this stupendous performance

I don't know why the field placing of Dhoni on the third day is being termed as negative tactic infact that was the very thing which forced the result in the match ,we are not palying a friendly to allow the batsmen to score the runs ,infact Australia also tried the same tactic but it didn't worked for as their bowlres were not bowling to the field.Even Ponting acknowledged it. Ya i agree that its a smooth transition in captaincy and spin bowling but am not too sure abt the batting still there is no trust worthy replacement for ganguly as yet & lastly ya Krejza bowled very well but his 12 wickets did'nt hurt India too much as he compensated it by giving India bucketful of runs

Looks like no one is interested in this blog. Hence I will write a few words. Being an Indian cricket fan, yesterday was a very emotional and proud day for me. The gesture by M.S.Dhoni towards Ganguly is something I will never forget and that comes from a Bengali. I was also happy that Anil was there to witness the occasion. Lastly I have to agree with you that the baton has been passed at the right time. Thanks to the fab five for the wonderful memories and thanks to all the Indian cricket fans who have made this sport so special, which otherwise in my opinion is a sport liked by emotionless robots unlike soccer, NFL, MLB and NHL where the fans are always passionate.

Indian cricket is in pink of health and no doubt Dhoni is the spiritual heir to Ganguly, (and hence he has replaced Ganguly in that sense), however, it will be foolish to think that the batting is all hunky dory. Ganguly is gone, Dravid is virtually battling an uphill task and the English test will be a tougher one - that is -if he survives with a few blessings from the selectors.
Though Tendulkar and Laxman have returned to form but against an ordinary attack. Laxman as we all know is a blow hot (vs Aus) blow cold (vs otrs) batsman. Hence we will be soon having to fill up 2 if not 3 slots and not 1 as you perceive. One just hopes that Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj pull up their socks and get ready for the big stage.

Smooth transition? It makes good headlines, but let us see how things pan out after 20 more matches. We won this test match, because Ponting took the foot off the pedal on Sunday. Otherwise, they could very well have gone on to win the test match.

The last para is all so true. Unless India quickly addresses its lousy fielding habits, the no:1 spot will always elude them for a consistant period of time. I previous all conquering Aussie team, is i would say, the best bench mark for the aspiring teams to follow. Good Luck India.

This blog was a very good read. Not only for the content but also for the way it was written
for the love of craft. Keep going sir..

ganguly built it, dhoni to cherish

True that its too early to rate the newcomers, but indications from the recent series seems encouraging. Three factors that makes Dhoni an exciting prospect and worthy to create a benchmark in captaincy. a) He demonstrated acute leadership and management skills, sharing the laurels with others and taking onus on his actions b) He is not just a motivator, but seems to be a good tactician too, reading the game well and having presence of mind to alter the course with sound tactics and c) his calmness, even in most stressful situations is amazing. In one side, we could see Ponting with so much of experience and credential loosing cool time and again and we saw Dhoni, totally cool, composed and focussed. I tend to agree with Suresh... Indian crickets seem to be in sound hands now...

Surely it is one of the defining moments of Indian cricket. With the available resources at his disposal, dhoni has the advantage of flexibility in the team. Having Kumble and Ganguly retired, Dhoni can now go with 5-1-5 or 3 fast bowlers and one spinner and all that. I am seeing a resemblance of Ganguly in Dhoni and I wish dhoni will do wonders and bring Indian cricket to No. 1 team in all three formats of the game.

india can never be oz,warne alone was involved in 92 test wins despite of being in & out of the side,my country,ind,have won only 97 tests in its entire history despite of having 1.2 billion population & despite cricket being the only sport in india & for those who are being critical of aussie supporters who are talking about pitch-fixing in india,let me tell u that in oz coz of the spirit of the game,pitch-fixing is considered illegal,steve waugh compared it to match-fixing & ian chappell said it was cheating,in india,pitch-fixing happens openly,against the spirit of the game.india's last two tours to oz were on falt pitches & hence india,won a game or two otherwise india would have been beaten black & blue if the pitches were fast aussie pitches of the old,in ind,pitches are prepared just to suit india.the indian captains bribe the curators.in anycase,india have won only less than half of the games in history that they have played against oz despite of a majority of games being in india.i love aussies in sport.i am not coming back ever to read anything on this discussion.i have not read any posts

After 12 years of getting 2 gems in a match, we are yet to produce one middle order batsman who can consistently challenge the Fab 4 for a place in the test team. Ironically, while we may have good options in the bowling department, where we have struggled historically, batting remains India's biggest worry.

And let's not even get started on our catching!

Its too early to start talking about the World No 1 ( or the best team )status. We still have not won a series in NewZealand and Srilanka( leave aside Australia and South Africa). If we can beat even 3 of these 4in their country we can start talking about Being the best. Also, to assume that in Mishra we have a successor to Kumble is ridiculous (based on one match ). We would be in the same position in another 2 years that Australia find themselves today. No Sachin, no Laxman, no Kumble, no ganguly , no dravid ( especially overseas ) and its not something that we can be overtly confident about. But we definitely have the potential and the future never looked so great. More importantly most of the freshers ( like Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma , Gambhir etc) have tasted international success and hence the confidence is high. The question is whether the same can be translated in being the the worlds best team. I guess its more than just talent. I wish the youngsters all the very best.

I would like to request the participants in this blog to be realistic. We are not satisfied with anything, not even a 2-0 victory over a decent batting/bowling side. What pace attack you are expecting better than Brett Lee, M. Johnson & Watson. Still you are thinking English attack would be a threat for India. Dears, lets live in the present; the present Indian team is in good harmony. Now you are worried about the retirement of Ganguly! Few weeks back the same critics were telling that Ganguly has to quit! Don’t be so negative in your comments, let’s appreciate the present winning streak and urge the team aim for better victories. The present victories are the stepping stones towards your No.1 position. Don't cry for unrealistic perfections and let's wish for an improved team effort in all departments.

Present Indian team has got all the talents and let’s appreciates and support them in a positive manner.

Regards

Congragulations to india..i m not going to coment on this article .but on indias acheivement by winning the test series..
We love to see a team like india(our nabours )to play best cricket than ausies and come to the top of rankings .india definitely can achieve this by playing continuously good cricket happened like in dis series with the lead of MS dhoni..Ohh...then can show to others asian power ......

Like everyone else Mr. Menon seems to be riding high here. The only smooth transition I can see here is MSDhoni taking over a captain. He has proved his worth in all departments of the game.
Amit Mishra taking over Anil Kumble is a joke. Let him play against Srilanka or Pakistan and you will see the real comparison. Oh yes! Statistically as well..
M. Vijay has yet to prove he is ready for a long stint. Remember even Bhajji did excellent with the bat against this lackluster Aussie bowling attack.
“Dhoni ensured that some of his negative tactics ….” Well, a cut and paste from Greg Chappells column I guess. So called “negative tactics” have surely contributed to India’s win and your post header.. Let’s be fair.
One of the reasons the Indian team looked good was because the Aussies flunked miserably. Who will replace who is too early to judge. Only time will tell.

This is a moment ive been waiting for, for over 15 years.
Now we will finally see how good Punter Ponting really is.
He came through the ranks when AUS were on top, now with
Warne, McGrath, Langer, Gilly all retiring Aus no longer
look the force they once were. As a WI supporter we
went through the same thing in 1990 when VIv, Greendige
Marshall left and 10 years later when Amby and Walsh pack-up.
Throughout these legends retiring Lara maintained his
incredible standards even as the WI team dipped to new
depths.

Can little Ricky hold his team together? And like
Lara show Atlas-like performances year after year
until a new wave of AUS cricketers arrive? The
recent series against India was not the best start.

Australia are still the number one team in the world, and I am an Indian fan. With Symonds comming back into the fold in place of Krezja or White, and Lee and Clarke back to full fitness Australia will be formidable opponents.Australia would have undoubtedly won the Nagpur test if Ponting had choosen to attack with his main strike bowlers after tea on the fourth day. What was Ponting thinking about, after all if he had bowled India out the run rate would not have mattered.It still remains to be seen how the young guns of Indian cricket will perform on the bowler friendly pitches in England and South Africa, not to mention Murli and Mendis in SL. Fielding also is a big issue which cost India the Delhi test, and will cost India many more if not addressed. For now I wish Dhoni and the Indian team all the best.

Transitions will be smooth only if there are no crap talks about voluntary retirement schemes and if seniors are given the respect that's due for them......... And senseless talks about a person's inclusion or exclusion in the team based on a single or handful of performances does no good either.

If seniors are pushed out transition will never be smooth and it's the youngsters coming in who would realize it later and Indian Cricket will only be poorer for it later.........

Kumble is just statistically India's greatest bowler ?? Suresh, were you out of your mind while writing this ??

And even talking from your own point, where did those statistics come from....? Did anyone just pencil down "619 Test Wickets" against Kumble's name in a book ? He took it mann !! He took all of those 619 Wickets ! It's so disappointing to see you use that word..........

And let me say one more thing for all you people who think Kumble wasn't talented & made up for it with hard work. And I think that's what prompted Suresh too to call him "statistically India's greatets bowler"........ Kumble was extremely talented and was also willing to do the hard yards and that's why that talent translated into performance. Talent isn't wearing designer stuff and trying to be stylish. It's about performing. You called him "statistically...." Yes, it's those mind-boggling statistics, the number of wickets & the number of matches he won for India that makes him Great !