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Superpower under challenge

India’s 72-run win in the third Test at Perth is not just an encore of its giant-killing prowess that saw it end Australia’s unbroken Test-winning sequence of 16 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in 2001. It does not just stop the world champion’s unbeaten run lasting 27 Tests that began more than two years ago. The victory at Perth is special because it bolsters India’s recently acquired reputation as a side that can deliver outside the sub-continent . Beginning 2006, it has won Tests in Kingston, Johannesburg, Nottingham, and now at the WACA where the last time the home team was undone was 11 years ago. The victories in Kingston and Nottingham were series-clinching efforts against the West Indies and England; and the upset at Johannesburg was India’s first Test win in South Africa. Perth witnessed an inspiring comeback after cricket’s reputation took a demoralising blow at Sydney and India failed to hold the fort in the end, seeming to crumble mentally under pressure. Under sporting conditions at the WACA, an accomplished batting line-up — reinvigorated by the inclusion of Virendra Sehwag, who should have played the first two Tests, and continuing to feature the world’s best in Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and V.V.S. Laxman — was able to combine forces with a vibrant trio of young pacemen to winning effect. Australia was beaten at its own game, although, as Ricky Ponting has suggested, it might have unwittingly made it easier for India by misreading the conditions and omitting the left-arm spinner Brad Hogg.

Although they lost, Ponting’s men redeemed themselves in the third Test by showing sportsmanship, which was in scarce supply at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The Indians regrouped and demonstrated both resilience and team spirit. Secondly, while Australia is indisputably the best Test side in the world, its superpower status is beginning to come under challenge, with bowling weaknesses showing up in the post-Glenn McGrath-Shane Warne era along with chinks in the batting line-up that other sides will be studying keenly. Thirdly, India has found an exemplary leader in Kumble who capped his feat of crossing 600 Test wickets with outstanding captaincy, beginning with the bold decision to bat first. He marshalled his resources intelligently to make up for the absence (owing to injury) of his frontline pacemen. His confidence in the future was brilliantly upheld by Irfan Pathan, who has rediscovered his swing and whose batting provides the side with good options; by Rudra Pratap Singh, who with his sharpness, swing, and bounce has demonstrated that he is a threat to batsmen everywhere; and by Ishant Sharma, whose ability to seam the ball both ways and extract bounce around the off-stump has been a revelation. Finally, India has got its balance of forces, the old and the new, right. The series has come alive, with everything pointing to a rousing finale at Adelaide.

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