"For a team to perform well, both batsmen and bowlers have to do the job. Dhoni seems to have a Midas touch."
Kapil Dev, Former India captain
"India have got to start winning abroad more frequently. They've won a few, but need to do that a lot more."
Darren Lehman, Ex-Australia allrounder
"Australia are not the benchmark any more. They have lost their balance—their bowling especially is tame."
Rameez Raja, Former Pakistan captain
"At no point have we had three very good fast bowlers. This bunch is far ahead in penetration and range."
Javagal Srinath, Ex-India fast bowler
"You can't push India around any more, like in the '90s. With recent successes, they have increased confidence."
Darryl Cullinan, Ex-South Africa batsman
***
Kevin Pietersen usually has a mournful air about him, but he's looked ashen-faced over the last few weeks. The England cricket team's captain has been smarting from painful encounters with the Indian team in the one-day series, from which he's gleaned some precious wisdom. In distress, Pietersen's words have acquired a greater ring of truth. "India is playing fantastic cricket at the moment. It's never nice to lose a series.... But it was against a side which has beaten the mighty Australia convincingly and are playing real good cricket."
Pietersen is absolutely right. India's ascent is forceful. India vs Australia featured two teams in transit—India on the way up, Australia sliding down. India were inventive, Australia muddled and mouldy. India attacked with intuition and courage, Australia matched it with timidity. Australia were outplayed through the series—the defeat at Mohali was Australia's worst in nine years. India went on to register a big victory in Nagpur outwitting their opponents. Australia last lost a series without winning a Test in 1983-84, against the West Indies at their pomp.
In all, of the 26 matches for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 1996, India and Australia have won 10 Tests each. In the last one year, India have played Australia in eight Tests, winning three and losing two—and one of the defeats, in Sydney, seemed undeserved. In the ODI CB series, in a stunning result, Australia lost the finals earlier this year.
"Australia are not the benchmark anymore, that's clear," Rameez Raja, former Pakistan captain, told Outlook. "Top teams must be balanced, but Australia have lost theirs, especially in bowling. They don't have a quality spinner, the fast bowling is unthreatening in conditions that don't favour them. The batting doesn't look great too—their two greats, Hayden and Ponting, are way into their thirties." Its youngsters, Raja says, are exciting, but can't ensure that Australia keep the No. 1 position. He adds, "And they're not quite youngsters too, by any standards."
So, are India playing the best cricket in the world? Yes, it would seem so. And the Indian team is No. 1, right? Not so, say the icc rankings. India moved to No. 2, marginally ahead of South Africa, in Tests with the win over the Aussies. South Africa, though, will be back at No. 2 with a certain whitewash of Bangladesh. In odis, the Indians need to whitewash England 7-0 to move to the second spot behind Australia. Currently, they're fifth.
Most experts are unequivocal in their opinion that while India are on their way up and Australia down, neither has reached the point that alters equations significantly. "It's too early to award them the top spot. It took Rafael Nadal a long time to remove Roger Federer, and rightly so," Peter Roebuck, former Somerset captain and columnist, declares. "The track record must count for something. It's not like in Grand Prix driving where only the current year counts. India might have the best side right now but needs to prove it home and away for another year to show it isn't a flash in the pan." Roebuck says excellence is a process measured in time, and cites the example of the West Indies and Australia dominating cricket over the last 30 years.
"Although other nations won (ODI) World Cups, these sides dominated the rankings in both forms of the game for roughly 16 and 14 years," Roebuck says. "That's an amazing achievement, unlikely to be repeated. Hereafter it will be a tussle for the top position and the rankings may be different in the various forms of the game."
In fact, when India's former Test captain Anil Kumble talks of Indian cricket and its status, his words indicate aspiration, not attainment. "I'm confident that this young team, with a few of the senior players being part of the team, has a great opportunity to dominate world cricket and be No. 1 in all forms of the game," Kumble says. "In One-day cricket, we are pretty close, in Twenty20 we are the No. 1 team in the world and I don't think we are that far behind in Test cricket."
But to bridge the gap, India must win abroad, and frequently. India started winning abroad under Sourav Ganguly, but the mantelpiece still has a bare look about it. Over the last two years, India have won series in the West Indies and England. But they lost in South Africa 1-2 after winning the first Test. And they lost in Australia this year. Then they were reduced to abject helplessness against Ajantha Mendis and Murali Muraltharan in another lost cause in Sri Lanka. "They've got to start winning abroad, haven't they?" asks Darren Lehman, the former Australian batsman. "They've won a few, but they need to do that a lot more."
India are capable of that, essentially due to the reinvention of Zaheer Khan and the emergence of Ishant Sharma. This helps India close in on the No. 1 spot, illuminating the twilight of our batting's Fab Five—Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly (already retired), Laxman and Sehwag. Yes, in some ways Sehwag almost belongs with them. "We never had three very good fast bowlers. This group is much ahead of anyone else, in terms of penetration and range," says former fast bowler Javagal Srinath.
Everything's fallen together into a nice little plot of success. "When a team performs well, it's the whole team, all units, that have to do well," Kapil Dev told Outlook. "The fast bowlers have shown they can do the job, the batsmen too have clicked, which you need to do to win matches."
The Indians also have self-belief, that intangible quality that buttresses talent and is crucial to winning. "Their recent successes have developed their confidence," agrees Darryl Cullinan, former South African batsman. "You can't push them around any more. In the 1990s, you could do that because that was the Indian nature, Indian culture. Success breeds confidence. The young Indian today is a lot more confident, more outgoing, more worldly-wise."
Fortunately, their leader happens to be a man with a magical touch. And though Kapil says it's too early to judge Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he can't help add: "Whatever he's touching, he's turning it into gold. He has the brains to take decisions fast, he's not afraid. That's what captaincy is all about."
So exactly where are we, what did emerge from the crucible of India's clash with Australia? The answer's not blowing in the wind, not yet. "For them, ambition would be crucial. In the past, India has been happy to reach the top or win a trophy. Now, it must aim to stay there," says Roebuck. To use boxing parlance, India may have knocked Australia down, but they must keep them down, if they are to be crowned No. 1.
Corrected, December 1, 2008
