Number one? Not so soon!

So finally India managed to do better this time – we snatched a draw from the jaws of victory! Who knows what would have happened if Australia had just a few more overs or had not lost Ponting so cheaply. What if Gilchrist had chosen just that day to come back to form? The possibilities are endless. Eighty six is not such a large number.

We are lucky that Kumble chose to break his ‘overseas’ jinx this series. Barring him, I think the present Indian attack is among the worst in the world. Forget the follow on, with this kind of bowling, I think it was gutsy of Ganguly to have declared when he did. And we insist on going into each match with only four bowlers, one of whom invariably gets thrashed out of the attack straight away.

I don’t know about Ganguly being India’s best captain, but he is either the most unimaginative or the most forgetful. He totally forgot Sehwag can bowl off-spin - to a team whose dislike for off-spin is well known. He even forgot to bowl himself. We should be thankful he remembered Tendulkar - even though it was too late by then.

We are also lucky that India did not win else our media pundits would have gone beserk granting India the top spot in world cricket. For Indians, one victory is enough to call the team number one and one defeat enough to call them names.

Personally, I think we have a great batting side, possibly the greatest batting side we’ve ever had, but number one? Forget it. We are a long, long way off from calling ourselves that. Not till we win sixteen Test matches in a row.