Cricket: Truly Sincerely Yours…....No.1

Team India came very close to making history by winning the first ever Test Series against South Africa in South Africa. But they made history anyway, on two counts. First, they drew the first ever Test Series after four earlier series losses. in SA Second, Sachin Tendulkar achieved the half century of centuries in the first test there. Apart from these there are many positives that justified India as the No.1 cricket test team.

Skipper Dhoni has never lost a series so far too. In 2010, drawn against SL, won 2-0 against earlier No.1 Aussies and 1-0 against NZ. Team India can now fight back from a position of weakness to either draw or win the series like in the Sri Lankan and South African tours.

Now, what qualities should a No.1 team have? Learning from Australia’s nearly two decade long dominance of the top spot we already know about these qualities. Only, we can take a test of Team India’s No.1 attributes. Here they are: Team India…

· No longer depends on key players. If Sachin or Sehwag or Laxman or Dravid fails or all of them fail, some down the line deliver.

· Have almost two layers of top players in reserve. One bright innings in a while does no longer guarantee a team spot forever, whoever the player is.

· Have more pace bowler options.

· Have lot of aggression almost amounting to sledging.

· Throws up unexpected rallying like Harbhajan making back to back centuries against NZ saving and winning matches.

· Now can snatch win from the jaws of victory. Will to win is growing and growing.Admits mistakes made more frankly.

· Play positive cricket that leads to nail biting matches. Make IPL run for cover?

How’s that?

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