New Delhi: Call it a coincidence, but highs and lows in Indian cricket have always walked hand in hand.
As India retreat to the dressing room after a clinical performance — their biggest victory in terms of runs in Test cricket — it may be well worth a thought that controversies in one way or the other have been a significant catalyst for their greatest victories on the field. Continue reading below
Be it the phoenix-like rise of the side from the dark hours of match-fixing, to Andrew Flintoff's shirt-waving act that prompted Sourav Ganguly to a repeat at Lord's. To Zaheer Khan getting spurred on after jelly beans were thrown at him. To gloom in Sydney which was followed by glory at Perth. Mohali was no different.
India came into this series with the clamour for doing away with seniors growing louder by the day. Ganguly announced this would be his last hurrah, while critics announced that a few others should march along with him.
By the end of the first Test, captain Anil Kumble would have been wondering what it took to avoid an unrelenting media, despite a match-saving effort from his team-mates, and more so for going wicketless for the first time in India.
The Mohali victory answers more questions than raising them. This was India's most convincing win in the decade, surely greater than even Perth earlier this year, for the win in January was in the aftermath of a souring racial controversy. But Mohali scores higher when it comes to contributions from man by man.
PAGE_BREAK
Ten out of the eleven made telling contributions to the 320-run win. If you accused Gautam Gambhir of throwing away starts, he made it all up with a whirlwind century. Sehwag led India's assault on the world champions, so much so that Ricky Ponting would deploy sweepers on either side of the wicket at the start of the fourth day's play.
As he became the world's highest run-getter, Sachin Tendulkar seemed to have asked 'and you dared to doubt me'. Sourav Ganguly has somehow always been successful at annoying the Aussies. His hundred was yet another case in point, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni, standing in for his beleaguered skipper, launched an assault akin to the days of his arrival. How ironic, that he repeated it when he arrived as a captain.
The bowlers, too, joined in for a chorus in the first essay, as Amit Mishra, the leg-spinner from Haryana, slipped into the big shoes of Anil Kumble with such ease that you'd forget the debutant's short frame. Include Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh into the equation, and it was a perfect recipe for success.
In the second innings, it was an encore. Zaheer Khan is at the peak of his prowess, a worthy spearhead of a pace outfit which backs him up with plenty of pace from the other end, especially Ishant Sharma whose spells at Ricky Ponting will march into cricketing folklore.
India couldn't dream of a better platform to go for the kill in their bid to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Simply put, there couldn't be a better combination of youth and experience, a near perfect mathematic ratio, to derail the Aussie applecart.
These are heady times for Indian cricket amid bidding farewell to some of its greatest flag bearers. All good things do come to an end. The series is not over yet, but it's a start.
Transition is never easy. Ask the Australian team, even as a new selection panel laps up the adulation of having pulled off a coup.
(Watch CNN-IBN live on your iPad. IBN7 and IBN Lokmat too. Download the IBNLive for iPad app. It's free. Click here to download now)
