NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Any pretensions Australia had to still being at the top table in test cricket have been shattered by their ashes humiliation with India, South Africa and their conquerors England likely to battle it for the right to call themselves the world’s best side. India have been top dogs since December 2009 but few are convinced they can rule the game like the West Indies and Australia have done in the past.
South Africa have been breathing down India’s neck and following their Ashes glory, England complete the triumvirate, promising frequent heavyweight tussles that augurs well for the test world championship the International Cricket Council plans to roll out in 2013.
In test cricket’s revised order, Australia separate the top four teams from the quartet at the bottom while India sit snug at the top, in no hurry to descend from the perch.
The Indians were denied their first series win in South Africa but the draw they salvaged not only underlined their resilience but hints their batsmen have finally sorted out their perennial frailty against short-pitch bowling.
“India’s feat in securing a drawn series in South Africa counts amongst the most outstanding in its history,” columnist Peter Roebuck wrote in the Hindu newspaper. “It is an indication of the team’s maturity and high expectations that the response was slightly muted.”
Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar too felt India justified their top billing in South Africa.
“We can never underestimate the significance of this tour,” Manjrekar wrote in a column that appeared in yesterday’s Times of India newspaper. “This tour was so important for India to show the world that the ICC ranking was actually a true reflection of their ability,” he wrote, adding India have shed the poor-traveller tag.
“India’s performance on this tour has got India something that even the 1983 World Cup triumph and the (2007) World T20 win could not get: a critical acclaim from the world.”
This added confidence would come handy in the tough assignments later this year, said former captain Sourav Ganguly.
“The Indians have started the year well but they have some tough tours ahead — in England and Australia — and I am pretty sure, this series will give them a lot of faith and confidence…” Ganguly wrote in the same newspaper.
India’s ascent coincided with the demise of Australia and if their Ashes drubbing is anything to go by, a resurgence is still some distance away for Ricky Ponting and his team mates.
“It has been an empire built on stone. Now the sands shift under the team and the house falls down,” Roebuck summed up Australia’s collapse in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
Aussie Chaos
If India triggered the collapse last year with a 2-0 whitewash in a short series, England can claim to have finished the job with a supreme Ashes series win Down Under. “There’s no doubt India in their conditions have got an unbelievably balanced team. But the way the English have played here in all facets has been very impressive,” Australian all-rounder Shane Watson sounded awe-struck as he provided a comparative study in Sydney.
His stand-in skipper Michael Clarke went to the extent of saying Australia needed to learn from England.
“I think 100 percent we have to learn from what England did this series. Their performance, not only with bat and ball, but in the field, was outstanding for a five-test series.” Australia’s defeat had a distinctly end-of-era feel to it. No longer able to rely on its golden generation after a decade and half of domination, Australia now grapple with a tricky transition period and a real shortage of talent.
Shane Warne’s exit alone has left the slow bowling department in such disarray that the selectors tried 10 spinners since, but the void remains.
A similar transition problem awaits India and there is nothing to suggest that they can overnight fill the void when top and middle order stalwarts Rahul Dravid (37), Sachin Tendulkar (37) and Vangipurappu Laxman (36) retire.
Coach Gary Kirsten, a key architect of India’s rise, is also unlikely to stay on after the World Cup even though he is popular with the players.
South Africa and England will certainly not mind such uncertainties in the Indian camp and would fancy another shake-up which would help them achieve global bragging rights.
