India wins...

Yes we won....and put to rest several ghosts - that Indians are poor chasers, that India does not have the stomach to fight after Viru gets out, that Sachin is a fair weather warrior (I'm also guilty of this one..!), that unlike the Australians, Indians give up long before the final ball is bowled......hmmm - many birds with one stone - qlets see now if they can keep up the momentum.

The thing I like about this Indian team is that they seem to have absorbed and learnt the best there is to learn from the Australians - that mental toughness, that dont give an inch on the field tenacity, that never give up attitude - and are combining it with the best of Indianess - natural ability, flair and as exemplified in their captain Dhoni - a keen sense of instinct. They have match winners that can individually turn games - Viru, Sachin, Harbhajan, Dhoni, Yuvi etc....but whats delightful is that the team is pulling in way more punches than any individual can......and thats not often seen with Indian teams. Take this test - the key to setting India up for the final day, in my view was not Sehwag (he was outstanding and my hat's doffed to him) but Zaheer - the incisive spell post lunch, kept the english frustrated and stuck -they scored only about 30-40 runs in an entire session and just couldnt get on with the game.....every time someone tried, they would get out - and given they knew the pitch was playing decently well, they had to eschew risk and play themselves in....in the first innings, crucial knocks from Harbhajan and Dhoni saved the day. So I believe except for Rahul, everyone weighed in. With Rahul.......I'll wait, hes too good to keep failing and he's done soooo much for Indian cricket, we owe him as much time as he needs to sort his game out - be it mental duress or something in his technique.

So on we march to Mohali - Dhoni's 5th test in charge - he's won four out of four so far.