India worthy challengers to Australia's throne

India worthy challengers to Australia's throne

Nishant Arora | CNN-IBN

Posted on Dec 24, 2008 at 10:49
Tags: India vs England Test series, Australia, ICC Test rankings


Chandigarh: It was a perfect finish to a perfect home season. After humbling Australia 2-0 in the recent four-Test series and blanking England 5-0 in the one-dayers, lifting the RBS cup was the icing on the cake for India.

Now, it is this winning momentum which needs to be kept intact, even though Indian skipper MS Dhoni says, "We don't really need to focus on rankings, we just need to focus on cricket."

The raw material for a charge up the rankings is in place and the names in the Indian batting line-up are enough to send shivers down the spine of bowling attacks around the world. The latest jewel in the Indian batting crown is Gautam Gambhir, who reeled off over 800 runs in the season to announce his pedigree.

Gambhir says, "I think it is just the hunger for runs because I haven't got this easily. It is important to make it count when you are in good nick."

And Dhoni can even call upon the bowling talent, which will hold the key in future matches. While Harbhajan and Amit Mishra were below par against England, in Ishant Sharma and Man of the Series against England, Zaheer Khan, a formidable new ball pair is in place.

"He provides that extra pace which is required at this level," Zaheer says of his pace bowling partner. "It is good to bowl in tandem with him because I can maintain my line and length and I can do the restricting job and he can be the attacking bowler."

So who will it be that snatches away Australia's crown? India or South Africa? To this, former England pacer and cricket writer Angus Fraser says, "South Africa are a very good side, but I just think India's spin bowling gives them the slight edge."

There is no cricket slated for India over the next couple of months, but there is little doubt that there is a team in place worthy of etching its name in history.

(With inputs from Amit Bose in New Delhi)


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