A Mahendra Singh Dhoni-inspired India stunned Australia with a thrilling eight-run win in the fourth one-dayer in Chandigarh on Monday, throwing the series wide open. Chasing India’s challenging 291-4, Australia made 283-7 to allow India to pull one back in the seven-match series and reduce the margin to 2-1. The first game was abandoned due to rain.

Australia appeared to be cruising towards a win after Matthew Hayden top-scored with 92 and Andrew Symonds hit 75 but the game turned on its head through some spirited bowling by the Indians at the death. It was India’s first win over Australia in 11 matches, the last coming in Brisbane in January 2004.

Left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh (2-66) changed the complexion of the match in the 47th over when he clean-bowled Symonds and then ran out Brad Hogg on the next ball. Needing 16 off Zaheer Khan’s last over, James Hopes (23 not out) hit a four off the first ball but could manage only three more runs off it in the company of Brett Lee.

Man of the match Dhoni made two brilliant stumpings after making a 35-ball 50 which helped India finish strongly despite a sedate start. “We were not able to chase earlier on in the series so we decided to bat first. Credit should go to Tendulkar and Ganguly for giving us a good start. Our bowlers also bowled very well in the middle overs,” Dhoni said.

“We needed to be aggressive otherwise we could not have come back in the series like this.” Sachin Tendulkar anchored the innings with 79 off 119 balls while adding crucial 91 runs with Sourav Ganguly (41) and 83 with Yuvraj Singh (39). “The Indians played very well, they kept wickets in hand and opened up only at the end,” Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said.

“We were in a comfortable position while chasing but then lost crucial wickets.” Australia started their innings in a blazing fashion, despite losing Adam Gilchrist (18) early once again, thanks to some lusty hittings by Hayden. Hayden, who slammed 11 fours and two sixes in his run-a-ball knock, holed out to Zaheer off left-arm spinner Murali Kartik (1-48) after he had hit the same bowler for a four a ball earlier.

Symonds took Australia close to the target with his 84-ball 75 before being clean-bowled by a searing Rudra Pratap delivery. The match was marred by some debatable umpiring decisions, one of which involved Ponting. The Indians appealed for a stumping after Ponting missed a drive against Irfan Pathan. With the TV umpire taking some time to reach the decision, Ponting got ready to take strike, confident that he was not out.

But Ponting had to walk off once the giant screens beamed the umpire’s verdict, the skipper glaring and muttering all the way back to the pavilion. Tendulkar also appeared to have nicked Lee earlier in the day but umpire Suresh Shastri turned down the appeal. The Australians paid the price for being unusually wayward in the field, giving away 39 extras including 31 wides, which was one less than their worst ever show against Sri Lanka in 2002-03. The next match would be played in Baroda on Thursday.

Ashwell Prince and Jacques Kallis hit half-centuries but Pakistan struck back with some disciplined bowling to restrict South Africa on day one of the second and final Test at Lahore on Monday.

South Africa had posted 259-6 with Prince (63) and Kallis (59) leading the charge at the Gaddafi Stadium when bad light stopped play seven overs ahead of schedule. Mark Boucher was unbeaten on nine and Andre Nel was yet to score. It seemed AB de Villiers (45) would ratchet up the South African total but he fell to an unfortunate run-out, giving Pakistan some advantage as they seek to level the series. South Africa won the first Test in Karachi by 160 runs.

Captain Graeme Smith plundered 46 runs but none of his teammates followed suit against the spin and pace attack of Pakistan. Key batsman Kallis, who scored a masterly 155 and an unbeaten 100 in the first Test, was not in the best form as he nearly played on Danish Kaneria twice. He regained composure though and hit paceman Umar Gul for two consecutive boundaries to reach his 45th half-century.

Kallis added an invaluable 83 runs for the fifth wicket with Prince, who also defied the bowling with some resolute stroke play. Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, who once again went into the Test with just two seamers and two frontline spinners, did not introduce left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman until the 51st over.

Rehman, who took eight wickets in Karachi, was hit for a six by Kallis before Kaneria struck back, trapping the South African with a disguising googly. Kaneria, who bowled a long spell of 27 overs on either side of lunch, was the best of the home bowlers with 2-73.

Earlier, Kallis added 53 runs for the third wicket with Smith after the tourists lost Herschelle Gibbs (13) and Hashim Amla (10). Pakistan’s pace duo of Gul and Mohammad Asif provided the early breakthroughs. Gul had Gibbs caught in the gully while Asif bowled Amla with an inswinger.

Smith, batting with confidence on 31 with South Africa 70-2 at lunch, drove Kaneria for a boundary before the leg-spinner had the last laugh with a sharp turner which went through bat and pad to hit the off-stump. Prince and Kallis took the score to 160 before Kaneria claimed the prized scalp of Kallis to raise hopes of dismissing the tourists for a modest total.

Prince, however, kept one end intact and consolidated the South African innings. Rehman finally brought an end to Prince’s innings when he beat the batsman in the air to hit the stumps.  Prince hit five boundaries in his stubborn three-hour knock. The Lahore Test is the swansong for Inzamam-ul Haq who is retiring from Test cricket.

The 37-year-old veteran was brought into the team along with Mohammad Yousuf. Inzamam was unavailable for the first Test while Yousuf pulled out at the last minute citing a lack of match fitness. South Africa remained unchanged, leaving veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock on the sidelines. Pollock was dropped for the first Test — the first time in his 107-Test career.

India’s man with the magical wand Yuvraj Singh Saturday said “India, Pakistan in a final is a dream coming true”.

He said it was something that everyone always looked forward to and it was “great” that it was finally happening at such a big stage.

Yuvi was also kicked about beating Australia. “It’s a big thing to beat Australia. It’s a great team victory and a very important phase of our life.”

Recounting the days after the team came back from the Caribbean earlier this year, he said: “We lost in the World Cup and we had to hear a lot of things. This is a special occasion.”

He dismissed questions about his elbow injury, saying “There was a lot of pain but I wanted to play. It doesn’t matter how much it was hurting, we won and that’s what matters.”

The lad from Chandigarh said he was “playing positively” and that he had “got in to a groove”.

“You can’t bat like this in 50 overs, you have to play like like this in 20 overs.”

Australia stand in skipper Adam Gilchrist Saturday said the semifinal loss against India in the World Twenty20 Championship had hurt their pride.

“Any loss hurts your pride. It’s annoying and frustrating,” said Gilchrist after his side went down by 15 runs at Durban.

“It’s disappointing to lose any championship. We’ve experienced it and we’ve learnt from it. We need to analyse it and come back,” he said.

Gilchrist said the Aussies were just about to start their season and would “need to get our skill level up”. They next travel to India for a seven-match ODI series that starts on September 29. They will also be playing the hosts in a one-off Twenty20 game.

The Aussie keeper was of the view that Twenty20 would “play a big part in world cricket” and it would be “interesting to see how the one-off games pan out”.

Asked to pick a winner between India and Pakistan, both of whom beat Australia in this tournament, Gilchrist opted to sit on the fence. “Both Pakistan and India are playing very well, I can’t predict a winner.”

About Yuvraj Singh, Gilchrist said he was playing with “great confidence and without any fear”.

The opener said he thought that captaincy did not drain him in this version.

“It moves quickly, but you need to think on your feet. And you need bits of good fortune in this game a bit more,” he said.

India stunned favourites Australia by 15 runs at Durban on Saturday to set up a mouth-watering final against Pakistan in the Twenty20 world championships.

Yuvraj Singh smashed 70 off 30 balls as India, electing to take first strike at the jam-packed Kingsmead, made a challenging 188-5 and then restricted Australia to 173-7 in a rousing semi-final.

Australia, needing 27 off the last 12 balls, were kept down to five runs in the 19th over bowled by left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh and six runs in Joginder Sharma’s last over.

Sharma, who was hammered for 31 runs in his first two overs, was gambled for the final over by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and came good with two wickets at the end.

Opener Matthew Hayden hit 62 off 47 balls and Andrew Symonds scored a 26-ball 43 during a rollicking third wicket stand of 66 that came off just 37 deliveries.

Australia, coasting at 134-2 by the 15th over, lost five wickets for 39 runs to hand India a famous win before some 19,000 delirious South African fans waving the Indian flag.

Seamer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth shone with the ball taking 2-12 off his four overs. Irfan Pathan and Sharma also claimed two wickets each.

The final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Monday will be the first major title clash between India and Pakistan since the limited-overs world championship of cricket in Melbourne in 1985.

“I think there were certain crucial moments in the game that India played better than us and deserved to win,” said Australian captain Adam Gilchrist, standing in for the injured Ricky Ponting.

“This game shows that if you have runs on the board you can put the other team under pressure and India did it very well tonight.”

Dhoni said his team was delighted to prove critics wrong.

“I think everyone said Australia were the favourites and I am glad we proved them wrong,” the Indian captain said.

“Once we posted a reasonable total, I knew we could win even when Hayden and Symonds were scoring so heavily.

“I just told Joginder before the final over to bowl as if he was bowling in a domestic match and not a world championship semi-final.

“I told him that you have faced such situations in domestic matches and done well, so there was no reason why you can’t do it again. God bless him, it worked out well.”

Left-handed Yuvraj, who smashed England fast bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in a over on Wednesday, hit five sixes and as many boundaries to boost India’s total.

Dhoni chipped in with 36 off 18 balls as India plundered 128 runs in the final 10 overs after a slow start.

Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa (34) hammered 84 for the third wicket off just 40 deliveries after India had plodded to 41-2 by the eighth over.

Yuvraj walked in after openers Virender Sehwag (nine) and Gautam Gambhir (24) had fallen against the tight Australian seam bowling.

Yuvraj took charge immediately, slamming the first delivery he faced from Stuart Clark for six over square-leg.

Symonds’ first over, the 11th of the innings, produced 19 runs as Yuvraj helped himself to a six and four and Uthappa pulled a short ball for six.

Yuvraj brought up his half-century off 20 balls by lofting Clark for his fourth six and Uthappa celebrated his partner’s feat by smashing two consecutive sixes off Mitchell Johnson.

India snatched a dramatic 37-run victory over hosts South Africa on Thursday to storm into the semi-finals of the Twenty20 world championships.India, restricted to 153-5 in a game they had to win to stay afloat, hit back to stop South Africa to 116-9 and knock Graeme Smith’s home team out of the tournament.

India, South Africa and New Zealand finished group E of the Super Eights on four points each, but India took the Kiwis along into the semi-finals due to superior net run-rates.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, India clash with Australia at the Kingsmead here while New Zealand meet group F leaders Pakistan at the Newlands in Cape Town.

In an unexpected turn of events, South Africa not only lost a match they appeared to be winning but failed to make 126 that would have helped them pip New Zealand on run-rate.

The hosts slumped to 31-5, recovered through a 69-run stand for the sixth wicket between Mark Boucher and Albie Morkel but failed to get past the tight Indian bowling backed by good fielding.

South Africa needed 17 off the final over to reach the magic figure of 126, but off-spinner Harbhajan Singh tied the batsmen down to concede just seven runs.

Left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh led India’s charge with 4-13 from his four overs while Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Harbhajan claimed two wickets each.

“It is really disappointing not to make the semis of our own tournament,” said Smith, the South African captain.

“But that is how it goes sometimes and we have to get on with life and get over the disappointment quickly.”

The South Africans leave on Tuesday for a Test tour of Pakistan.

India’s jubilant skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he was confident of defending the low total since he “had the bowlers to do the job.”

“We knew we will be through if we get regular wickets and that is what the bowlers did,” said Dhoni.

“It is great to be playing in the semi-final and we look forward to the game against Australia. I am sure our fans at home are happy and will be praying for our success.”

India struggled with the bat after Dhoni won the toss and elected to take first strike.

None of the first four batsmen made 20 before Dhoni and young Rohit Sharma retreived the situation by adding 49 for the fifth wicket.

Dhoni hit 45 off 33 balls with four boundaries and a six.

The 20-year-old Sharma, batting for the first time in the tournament, made an unbeaten 50 off 40 balls, reaching his half-century off the final delivery with a six to mid-wicket off Johan van der Wath.

India were without Yuvraj Singh who was ruled out with a left elbow injury sustained during Wednesday’s match against England in which he hit Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over.

The blow seemed to have a telling effect on the rest of the team even after openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put on 32 for the first wicket in 4.3 overs.

Three wickets fell for one run in four balls following a double strike by veteran Shaun Pollock in the fifth over.

Yuvraj Singh smashed English fast bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over as India won by 18 runs to stay alive in the World Twenty20 championship.India, who would have crashed out of the tournament had they lost, piled up 218-4 after electing to bat first and then restricted England to 200-6 on a rousing night at the jam-packed Kingsmead.

Left-hander Yuvraj’s feat in the 19th over gave him the fastest 50 in the tournament off just 12 balls, eight deliveries less than what Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful achieved against the West Indies.

Broad’s first two balls were swung over fine leg, the third over cover, the fourth cut over point, the fifth pulled to mid-wicket and the last into the stands at long-on.

It was only the fourth instance in top cricket that six sixes were hit in an over after Garfield Sobers and Ravi Shastri did it in first-class cricket and Herschelle Gibbs in the World Cup earlier this year.

Yuvraj finished with 58 off 16 balls with seven sixes and three boundaries to set up India towards victory in a match they had to win to stay in contention for the semi-finals.

India must, however, beat South Africa here on Thursday if they are to prevent New Zealand and the home team from taking the two semi-final spots from group E of the Super Eights.

If India win on Thursday, it will force a three-way tie in which net run-rates will determine the two semi-finalists.

England ended the tournament with their third successive defeat in the second round and now head to Sri Lanka for a five-match one-day series starting on October 1.

Yuvraj said he was reminded of the five sixes Dimitri Mascarenhas hit off his bowling during the sixth one-day international at the Oval in London earlier this month.

“I got more phone calls after that over than when I get for scoring a century,” Yuvraj said after being named the man of the match.

“So I decided to do something about it and luckily I got my chance today. I just went for the shots and they came off.

“But what is important is that we are still in with a chance of making the semi-finals and hopefully we can play as well against South Africa.”

Yuvraj’s blistering knock came after openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir set the platform with a 136-run stand by the 15th over.

Sehwag made 68 off 52 balls with three sixes and four boundaries. His Delhi team-mate Gambhir hit 58 off 41 balls with seven fours and a six.

Gambhir began the run glut in the fifth over by smashing Broad over the mid-wicket fence for the first six of the innings.

Sehwag welcomed Mascarenhas into the attack by slicing a six over point and cut Chris Tremlett over third man for his second big shot.

Sehwag’s third six was over point against England captain Paul Collingwood in the 10th over, two balls after Mascarenhas floored a skier at third man.

England made a spirited reply to the imposing target, reaching 96-1 by the 10th over after Vikram Solanki made 43 off 31 balls and kevin Pietersen chipped in with 39 off 23.

England needed 52 runs off the last three overs, but left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh cut short the challenge by removing Owais Shah and Collingwood in the 18th over

India defeated Pakistan in a bowl-out after the arch-rivals played a heart-stopping tie during the World Twenty20 championships on Friday.With Pakistan needing one run to overtake India’s 141-9, Misbah-ul Haq was run out off the last ball of the innings to leave his team on 141-7.

In the bowl-out, Pakistan’s Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi failed to hit the stumps at the other end.

Indian bowlers Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa hit the wicket each time to give their team a 3-0 win.

Both Pakistan and India qualified for the Super Eights round after ousting Scotland from the race.

A sell-out crowd at the Kingsmead watched a slug fest between the two teams that swung from one corner to the other before the match ended with the scores level.

Pakistan appeared on course to victory when they restricted India to 141-9 after captain Shoaib Malik had won the toss and elected to field in overcast conditions.

But India hit back to reduce Pakistan to 103-6 in the 18th over, leaving the batting side needing a challenging 39 to win off the remaining 14 balls in the low-scoring match.

The seventh-wicket pair of Yasir Arafat and Misbah swung the game Pakistan’s way by adding 38 off the next 13 balls, but failed to complete the crucial winning run.

Misbah, who made 53 off 35 balls, patted the last ball from Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and ran but failed to beat the throw from the infield to the bowler, who broke the wickets.

Left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan, returning to the Indian team after nine months, took 2-20 in his four overs.

For Pakistan, seamer Mohammad Asif returned the second-best figures in Twenty20 cricket to restrict India to 141-9 in the first session.

Asif used the overcast conditions to wreck India’s top order with 4-18, second behind New Zealander Mark Gillespie’s 4-7 against Kenya earlier in the week.

India were reduced to 36-4 before Uthappa retreived the innings with 50 off 39 balls.

Indian skipper Mahendra Dhoni hit 33 and Irfan Pathan made 20 to boost the total amid three frustrating stoppages as light showers swept the ground.

Asif struck with his third delivery when he put out his right hand and grasped a return catch as Gautam Gambhir drove uppishly.

In his next over, Asif bowled Sehwag, who made five on his return to international cricket after being dropped for the recent England tour.

Yuvraj Singh holed out in the deep in Asif’s third over and the seamer met another success in his fourth and final over when he forced Dinesh Karthick to edge a rising ball on to his stumps.

Uthappa fell soon after reaching his half-century when he was caught behind to give debutant left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir his first international wicket.

Afridi clean bowled Pathan and Harbhajan Singh towards the end to restrict India’s total

Australia bounced back in style from Wednesday night’s humiliation against Zimbabwe, producing a performance with bat and ball that was as disciplined and purposeful as their earlier efforts had been flaccid and complacent. After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first, they stifled England’s attacking intent to bowl them out for 135, then raced to an eight-wicket victory with more than a quarter of the overs remaining, thanks largely to an unbeaten 67 from 43 balls from Matthew Hayden.

The cause of England’s downfall was a muddled performance from their batsman, who seemed more distracted by Australia’s pre-match predicament than the Aussies themselves. Though Kevin Pietersen had talked in gleeful terms of “humiliating” their oldest rivals and sending them home early, none of his team-mates were able to back up the big words with deeds. Pietersen bristled during a 20-ball cameo but yorked himself when well set on 21, Collingwood clobbered 18 quick runs then missed a low full-toss, and by the time the last five wickets had tumbled for eight runs, Andrew Flintoff’s 31 from 19 balls was as good as England could offer.

After the Zimbabwe match, Ricky Ponting had called on his players to respect the game a little more, and this time Australia were a committed unit from the very first ball. Brett Lee, whose thunderbolts had been misdirected during Wednesday’s defeat, conceded just nine runs in his first two overs to push England’s openers onto the defensive, and he was superbly backed up by his fellow seamers - Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson - who took eight wickets between them and in doing so conceded more more than six runs an over.

England’s top three were confronted by a pitch with more bounce than had been on offer in the opening two matches, and expended far too much energy swishing wildly outside off stump. Maddy, whose love of the cut shot has made him the highest score Englishman in Twenty20 history, failed to connect with a succession of cross-batted swipes before chipping tamely to Mike Hussey at mid-off; Matt Prior swung loosely to wide mid-on, while Luke Wright, who looked overawed by the occasion, failed to get his foot to the pitch of the ball in a wild six-ball stay which ended when he snicked a thin edge through to Gilchrist off Johnson.

At the end of the six-over fielding restrictions, England were stuck on an uneasy 35 for 1. Pietersen whistled his first ball through the covers for four, while Collingwood swiped a Lee free hit for a big six over midwicket, but both men fell when well set, as too did Flintoff, whose consecutive straight sixes off Andrew Symonds were as good as England’s innings got.

Australia’s approach with the bat could hardly have been more different or effective. Adam Gilchrist and Hayden were never less than positive in their intent during their 78-run stand for the first wicket, but their shot selection was much more measured than in that first match. Both batsmen chose to thread the ball rather than thump it as Stuart Broad and Flintoff shared the new ball, and their eyes were in by the time the fielding restrictions were lifted.

England’s first bowling change signalled the change in intent. Collingwood brought himself in to take the pace off the ball, but Gilchrist responded by sweeping him dismissively into the midwicket stand for six. That was the cue for Hayden to lift his own tempo, and James Kirtley’s first international over for three-and-a-half years went for 17 - three crashing fours from Hayden and a flicked half-volley from Gilchrist.

After six overs, Australia were cruising on 61 for 0 - almost double England’s earlier effort. After an ineffectual over from Mascarenhas, England turned to the spin of Chris Schofield, who struck with his first delivery as Gilchrist, within one shot of a 28-ball half-century, lofted straight to Flintoff at long-on.

The set-back didn’t slow Hayden, however, who piled into Mascarenhas with a monstrous smear over cow corner that had Pietersen wincing at the power of the shot, and then followed up with a delicate reverse-paddle for four. By now England’s only consolation was they were guaranteed their progression to the second round, at the expense of the luckless Zimbabweans, who had been far more competitive in their own defeat against England than England themselves were now proving against the Aussies.

Flintoff returned to the attack, despite some very obvious discomfort with that troublesome ankle, and produced England’s best moment in the field when he stuck out his left hand in his followthrough and nonchalantly plucked a lofted drive from Ponting out of thin air. But the end was already nigh, and Hayden delivered the coup de grace by walloping three consecutive fours as Schofield returned to the attack. A match that had begun amid huge hype and expectation had finished with a familiar English rout, and by the end, Ponting was even seen to be smiling again.

Proverbs have always been an integral part of the English lexicon. We are taught these at an early stage of our lives and as life progresses we realize how they always stand out to be true. Every cloud in life does come with a silver lining and yes, every time a window of oppurtunity closes, another one does open up.For sport, as in life the proverbs stand true as well. But none more than - ‘make hay while the sun shines’. Pete Sampras did it 14 times at the grand slams, Roger Federer is doing it now. Jack Nicklaus did it 18 times at the majors, Tiger Woods is doing it now. Michael Schumacher did it 7 times and Fernando Alonso has already done it twice. And this is where I think Indian cricket has missed the bus.

Over the past decade and more, India had the luxury of having three of the best exponents of the trade playing at the same time. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have been the backbone of the Indian team. As India gets ready for life without them, albeit temporarily, it is time to look back and see if India’s achievements as a team justify the talent and personal achievements of the famed trio.

Sachin Tendulkar made his debut for India as a child prodigy in the early winter of 1989. Eighteen years later, the little ‘boy’ has gone on to become the little ‘master’ with fifteen thousand runs in tests and another elevn thousand in the shorter format. Add to this 78 international hundreds and you know who has been the most dominating cricketer in the world over that period.

Rahul Dravid announced his arrival in international arena at the Mecca of cricket. Lords cricket ground witnessed classy innings -which gave enough indication that this man will be ‘the wall’ of Indian batting.

A hundred and twelve test matches later India’s greatest number three batsman is often talked about as the world’s best as well.

On the off side first there is god, then Sourav Ganguly. This is what Rahul Dravid had said about ‘The Prince of Kolkatta’.

With a one day record second only Sachin in the Indian team the, the Kolkattan has also been one of the most successful Indian captains ever.

Sachin has been playing for India for eighteen years, while Rahul and Sourav came into prominance after 1996. A look at India’s record after november 1996, the time when all three were playing together, shows that India have lost a golden oppurtunity to be the best team in the world in the past decade.

India have won only 36 tests of the 109 it has played since November 1996 till date, and only 178 of the 360 one day games in the same period. During this period the three stalwarts of Indian batting got 54, 786 runs in both forms of the game and 132 centuries between them.

With those figures the best that India reached at the world stage was the finals of the cricket world cup in 2003. Add to this the fact that India’s most successful bowler, Anil Kumble picked up 443 test and 197 one day wickets in the same period.

With those individual performances, India should have definitely won more than they did. Let’s compare this to the world champions Australia. During the same period (from November 1996 - till date), the top three Australian batsmen have been Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist.

They have scored 52,080 runs and 110 centuries betwwen them. Also the differnce between Shane Warne’s performance during that period and that of Anil Kumble is not much. Warne has picked up 501 test and 194 one day victims.

The big difference though has been the in the victories of the teams. Australia have won 210 of the 305 one dayers they played in this period and 88 of the 129 tests. Add to this tthree consecutive world cups and the Champions trophy last year. They have put every available trophy in their cabinet.

With a much better record for the batsmen and not much seperating their most successful bowlers, India should have been able to match Australia’s record, if not better it.

Amongst the many proverbs that we were taught, there was always extra emphasis on - ‘where there is a will, there is way’ - may be its all in the will.