It has been three days since India won the Mumbai Test against Sri Lanka and climbed atop the Test team rankings. Since then much has been written on the subject. Lot of eminent Indian cricket writers have argued why much should not be read in this success. Others have predicted, this success may be short-lived, and still some others have questioned the validity of a rankings system that puts India at the top of Test playing nations.
You can argue till cows come home which is the best Test side right now. Fact is, no side is dominating the game like the West Indians did for over a decade beginning in the mid-seventies, or the Australians did for a long spell under the leadership of Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and the first part of Ricky Ponting's reign until Warne and Co. decided to hang up their boots.
India's climb to the top of ICC Test team rankings has been preceded by a qualitative improvement in India's results not just in the Test arena, but in the shorter versions of the game as well.
The number one ranked team is not necessarily the best side, but it is perhaps the most consistent side for the period the rankings take into account. And consistent India has been, of late.
This consistency is reflected in the fact that Indian batsmen, for the first time, occupy the number one position in ICC rankings for Tests as well as one-dayers. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been the top ranked batsman in ODI's for almost a year now, and Gautam Gambhir, who has scored seven Test centuries in last nine Tests, heads the rankings for Test batsmen. Two of the five top ranked Test players, and three among the top ten in one-dayers are Indians.
If over the past decade, India's win-loss ratio in Tests has gone up considerably, it has improved even more over the past couple of years, following the 2007 World Cup. During MS Dhoni's captaincy, stretching over 10 Tests and four series, India has quite comprehensively beaten Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, without losing a single match. During the same period, the Australians won a contentious series at home against India (remember Sydneygate?), were then soundly beaten by India in India, lost the Ashes in England and were beaten 2-0 at home by South Africa. Their only series win in this period, a victory against the complacent South Africans.
The current failures of the Australian side are defended on the grounds that they have lost a clutch of world class performers in recent times as Warne, McGrath, Hayden and Gilchrist. Indians have also lost Sourav Ganguly, their most successful Test skipper, and Anil Kumble, who arguably won more matches for India than any other player.
Others like Sehwag, Gambhir, and India's leading fast bowler, Zaheer Khan have been unavailable or absent at crucial times, because of some reason or the other. Every time the seniors have been injured or absent, the new incumbents have put up their hands, and stood to be counted.
Last year against Australia, and more recently in the last Test against Sri Lanka, Murali Vijay, made light of Gambhir's absence and gave the side excellent starts in the company of Sehwag. India went on to win both the matches. Again, last year when Kumble was out due to a hand injury Amit Mishra made his debut in Mohali and promptly took seven wickets against Australia (another match that India won), indicating India's burgeoning bench strength.
Indian selectors too must be credited for India's improved performance. After an insipid performance in the first Test against Sri Lanka, they decided to drop Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra, two key performers last year. The replacements, Sreesanth and off spinner Pragyan Ojha delivered the goods in the next two Tests.
Cricket commentators agree India has a powerful batting line up. But it is more than just powerful, it is one of the best ever line ups to have played the game, comparable to Don Bradman's 1948-mark Invincibles or the West Indians of the late 70's, which had Gordon Grenidge and Des Haynes opening, followed by Viv Richards, Alvin Kalicharan and Clive Lloyd. Jeff Dujon was the wicket keeper-batsman, and the weakest link in that line up was the otherwise-prolific Larry Gomes.
The current Indian line up is just as good, if not better.. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are two of the three best opening batsmen India has ever produced. At number three and four, you have two batsmen, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, who would walk into most world elevens, followed by the silken VVS Laxman at number five. Dhoni has been prolific at number seven ever since he took over as skipper -- like Sehwag at the top, he scores heavily and he scores quickly.
Much has been written about the Australian way of batting, how under Mark Taylor, Australian batsmen came up with the strategy of scoring at four runs an over, allowing their bowlers lot of time to pick up 20 wiickets. Well, Sehwag has now introduced an Indian scoring rate. Indians now score at a furious pace. Till the time he was at the crease in both Kanpur and Mumbai, Indians were scoring at a scorching 5.5 per runs per over.
It augurs well for India that the weakest link in this side is the hugely talented Yurvaj Singh. The day Yuvraj finds his grove as a Test batsman, God save the bowlers for he can match Sehwag and Dhoni, stroke for scintillating stroke.
Not just the mighty Indian batting, even the much-maligned bowling has delivered too at crucial times. In the absence of Kumble, Zaheer Khan has been a revelation with the old ball, and right now is possibly the best exponent of reverse swing in international cricket. Ishant Sharma has often bowled quicker than any other Indian bowler you can think of. Considering he is just 20, the future is bright for him as well as Indian cricket. Sreesanth, India's hero at Kanpur against Sri Lanka, holds the seam so perfectly than Allan Donald shows videos of Sreesanth's bowling to aspiring fast bowlers.
I can't think of too many sides in world cricket who would prepare greentops if Zaheer, Ishant and Sreesanth were in the Indian side. Sreesanth in Johannesburg and Ishant Sharma in Perth have already exposed the folly of such a move.
Since 2000, India more than any other Test playing nation has slugged it out toe-to-toe with Australia, making India-Australia series the marquee contest in Test cricket in recent times. True, this Indian side hasn't won a series in Australia. In 2004, they came pretty close, almost spoiling Steve Waugh's farewell party. On the last day of the last Test at Sydney India was in with a chance, but a typical rearguard action from Steve Waugh saved the day for Australia, and the home side was lucky to have ended the series 1-1. The last series was even closer, and most neutral observers agree that India would have prevailed in Sydney, had some unusually poor umpiring bloomers, aided and abetted by boorish pressure tactics employed by the Australians, not denied India a deserved victory.
If evidence is required, more can be provided to prove why India is the most consistent, if not the best Test side in international cricket. What bothers me, saddens me, is the muted celebration of this achievement by the Indian cricket writing fraternity.
It is a malaise of Indian writers that they launch into lengthy post mortems of India’s losses and are singularly reluctant to celebrate India’s victories.
For as long as I have watched cricket we have judged Indian batsmen’s performance on quicker wickets as the benchmark of their success. Yet we don’t subject visiting South African, English or Australian batsmen to similar scrutiny. A Tendulkar or Dravid or a Laxman has a far better record on faster, bouncier wickets at Perth and Brisbane, than Ricky Ponting has on the turning dustbowls in India. But just try questioning Ponting’s class to someone like Peter Roebuck or Ian Chappell.
Most of Shane Warne’s victims were from South Africa, England and New Zealand, countries not known to produce batsmen who are quality players of spin. Warne’s record against India is rather ordinary. I can’t remember reading anywhere in the Australian media that Warne is perhaps not such a great bowler, because he has not done too well against Indian batsmen, traditionally known to be the best players of spin.
I am not blaming the Australians. In fact, I think there is a lesson -- an important one, at that -- to be learnt here for us.
Until we learn to celebrate our successes, warts and all, no one else will.
And this achievement, that of becoming the number one Test playing nation, is not an insignificant one. After all, India is only the third Test playing nation which has achieved this distinction, since the rankings system was first introduced.
