2-0

Thats it. India won 2-0. Superstition worked. India are the masters of Test Cricket at the moment. They have removed the pitch equation out and are winning in every kind of scenario. As SP said, they dont even have a fixed eleven that goes around every Test they play. Hats off to the architects of this classical triumph. Everybody contributed. That has been the punch line of the team of 2000’s since initiation by great Saurav Ganguly.

India just for the 3rd time in their history won all tests of a series. Previously they had trumped SL and England in 1990s.  Australia lost 3 in a row after 22 years and all tests of a series in near 28 years.

What a domination they have had.

The result line of 2-0 does not indicate the close fight the 2 best Test playing teams had.  No team can lay claim except for today’s play that it won the entire day. Thats the beauty of Test cricket. Even contest between two teams, bat and ball. 400+ runs were scored in first innings of both tests and yet this produced results. A slap to those who say India has  flat wickets. Well India is not a SL who aims to produce featherbeds to aid its spinners.

None of the spinners got 5 wicket haul in any of the 4 innings of the series and that says the story that the pitches offered assistance to both pacers and spinners equally. Neither team had quality spinners as like in the past, yet the 2nd innings in both Tests saw a low score affair.

Zaheer Khan showed he is a masterclass with the old ball and reverse swing comes not better to anybody but him. Sreesanth had a decent Test and he should be the 3rd pacer when team plays abroad. And very soon he would be back to the land which got him the recognition as a Test fast bowler — the Saffaland.

Zaheer, Ishant, Sreesanth forms a decent pace trio who could give some tough moments to SA in SA provided the batsmen counter Dale Steyn effect in his homeyard. But thats later.

For the moment lets savior the epic win in an epic Test series so shortened due to over emphasis on Ashes and crunched schedule. Who needs T20 when we have the stuff like this 2 Tests.

Australia fought hard but they are now a human team and unless they dont find the master class of Warne, Gilly and McGrath again sometime soon, they are going to lose more Tests than they ever did when they dominated Tests scenario for over a decade.  It was a forgettable Test tour for Hussey and Clarke, though Katich gave good starts he failed to convert them to big ones.

Ponting and Watson had a consistent successful series. North saved his place for the Ashes for a while though.  The bowling looked worrisome. Hauritz was tore apart, Hilfy tried hard, Johnson had Dravid only to his credit.  Bollinger had a super semi 5th day in mohali before stomach injury forced him out. Peter George had a okish debut. Not sure if he would play when Bollinger, Siddle return.

For India there were too many gains.  First and foremost they had a magical Tendulkar at his best. What do we say more about him except that he is a true GOD of cricket for all times.

Raina, Vijay had good series with the bat. Vijay would be around for a while as GG is injured. Raina for time being seems to have edged out Yuvraj out of contention Now as Laxman would return in next Test series against NZ and even if Raina fails miserably in those 3 tests, Pujara would be the man to replace him at 6 in SA series (if at all). So now there are 3 men competing for Ganguly’s slot — Pujara, Raina, Yuvraj.

Till Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar are around Pujara would not get too many opportunities, but he proved his class in classic 4th innings 72. He had composure, he had attitude, temparament and hunger to prove himself on the highest stage. He could not have scripted his debut better. A match winning 72 in company of Best Batsman ever, aggressive 72 which did not let the pressure of chasing 200 on a  5th day pitch after Sehwag fell. What else would one want. Bloggers across India had rooted for Pujara and they are happy lot today. Find any Indian blog and that would be telling glorious tales of Pujara. He is just 22 and a long career beckons.

He might not get too many chances in next few months but within 1 year he would be the man of Indian cricket. The next big thing for India though one Test is too early to assign a tag to him. And its not fair to call him next  gib thing right now.

All in all a very satisfying win for India. A superb advertisement for Test cricket and expressing pity and shame that this was just a 2 Test affair. Damn Ashes.

Well played India and Australia and well behaved Ricky Ponting.