India Rising

A cricket enthusiast writes from Bangkok

Another master class, perhaps his final one on Australian soil,from the Little Master, inspired leadership from Dhoni and great bowling spells from the Indians, saw Australia humbled in their own backyard.To many Indians this is a great victory. To me, it has been India's greatest cricketting summer. Or greatest six cricketing months in it history ! And perhaps the emergence of the next cricketting superpower and the begginning of a crickting decline of another proud nation!

For the 17th time, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar missed an ODI century by less than 10 runs and failed to add to his 42 scores above the hunderd mark. If his 117 not out at Sydney,was perhaps one of the greatest "chasing" centuries and a payment back to the excellent Indian bowlers, his 91 yesterday with a niggling injury to his groin, was a match deciding, rivetting innings,duly paid back by the disciplined Indian Bowlers... Peter Roeubuk writes that his bat was as wide as the Suez Canal and he was in comand from the start. He has reclaimed his position as the number 0ne ODI batsman in the world this week.

Australia have lost Warne, Mcgrath, Langer, Martin and now Gilchrist and Hogg. Macgill, injury prone, is near his end. Hayden is pushing 37. These holes are always difficult to fill, if not impossible.The loss of Gilchrist is a vital, irreplaceable blow in any form of the game. One has to asuume that Australia's domination is nearing it end.

On September 24th 2007, India won the 20-20 event in South Africa, when no one gave them a chance and without three of their greatest run-getters in its cricketting history ! A commendable feat, yet I put that as third in my list of cricketting achievements. Second of course is the Indian under-19 team's World Cup victory, which proves the secoind line of defence is ready for future battles. But above all, when everyone expected India to be thrashed on both Tests and ODI's in Australia against the best team in the world, we came up trumps. If you are willing to consider that we were cheated (out of at least a draw, if not a vitory) at the Sydney Test, the series is to be deemed a creditable 1-1 draw. The lack of preparation on Australian soil undid us at Melbourne, for sure. But we won at Perth, which no team in recent history has done. Then to beat the World Champions 2-0 to lift the CB series was the icing on the cake.

The last six months have showed the world that India is ready to match its cricketting financial superpower status with its players performing on the field