Monday, November 10, 2008

India Thrash The Aussies

India beat Australia very comfortably in the 4th test to win the Border-Gavaskar trophy with a 2-0 series win in Nagpur today, to hand Saurav Ganguly an unbeatable farewell gift :)

Among a lot of other things, this series will be remembered for awesome reverse swing bowling by Zaheer and Man-of-the-Series Ishant Sharma, some awesome display of batting by Gautam Gambhi, Sehwag, Tendulkar, VVS and Dada - one or the other firing when it mattered the most, some awesome captaincy by Dhoni, and some shockingly inexplicable tactics by Ponting when he preferred to get through some quick overs by his part-time bowlers to make up for a low over rate and avoid getting a one test ban, when he should have gone all out to get India bowled out on the 4th day of the final test.

But the most beautiful moment of the series was undoubtedly when Dhoni handed over the captaincy of the team to Dada for the final moments of the test, when Australia were nine down, letting Dada lead the team to the series victory. Such a beautiful gift for a man who gave his everything to the team for over a decade.

And Dada didn't disappoint his fans, coming up with a century earlier on, and then a fighting 85 in his last test. And though his last innings ended up being a first ball duck, in the grand tradition of Bradman, he certainly couldn't have asked for a better way to go out... and of course, he did get time, one last time, to take off his shirt in the galleries for his fans!

It may not be the end of the Aussies, and India may still have some way to go before they can be crowned the number one test team in the world, but one thing is certain... the invincibles have lost their crown! A new India can certainly aspire to lay claim to that throne!

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