As good as it gets

The Aussie juggernaut finally halts! Hats off to Team India for the sensational victory. Anil Kumble showed great leadership skills to pull the team through this. To win a test match at Perth, Australia’s strongest forte to date is just beyond expectation.

After the Sydney trauma, no one would have thought India could come back in such a way. As a cricket fan I was so depressed that 4-0 was the only result I could imagine. The reasoning behind the thinking was not being able to draw the Sydney test would have crushed the morale of the team and the strains attached with the loss would have sapped all the energy out of the guys. Then coming to Perth, where no sub-continent team had won a test match till date, with the ambition to get the first win is wishful thinking. Winning a match against Australia when the series is already gone is different, but to win when the series still hinges in the balance has to be bravery. After getting the 16^th win at Sydney, the Aussies might have thought that Perth is going to be a piece of cake looking at the history. But surprise, surprise, here come India again to spoil the party and Aussie record of 17^th straight win.

Man of the match Irfan Pathan needs to be handled pretty carefully from now onwards. India can’t afford to loose a gold pot like him again. He just adds so much value to the team. And the unpredictable man, Virender Sehwag, should never be dropped from the test team. Only the selectors can answer why he was dropped from the test team in the first place given the number of wins he has setup in tests both within and outside India. No praise is enough for the spell Ishant Shrama produced in the first session. He should go on from here to play for a long time for India and bring more laurels for it. India’s pace stock is rising by the day and that just means that our future is bright. Once you have bowlers to take 20 wickets in a test match, you can only win more matches than loose.

Well coming back to the win, Kumble has already rated it as his best. Sunil Gavaskar said it’s the greatest in the last 40 years. I’m not sure about that. The Kolkota test was won under more difficult circumstances, especially India following on. The Adelaide win in 2003-04 was equally great. India was 85/4 in reply to the first innings score of 556. Rahul Dravid’s teary eyes at the end of the chase told the story. This test under the circumstances when nobody in the world gave them even 10% of chance is definitely special. Had India went down in the match after showing a lot of fight, still no one would have blamed them. Through out the match India had the upper hand and the Aussies could not win even one session. I could not agree more with Rahul Dravid when he said “this win sounds more special because it is at present and fresh in our mind”. Greatest or not, this definitely is as good as it gets.