At last, India played like a team. Call it a home pitch victory or losses at the other places, I believe, this victory goes to the team effort. There is no single player who could be pointed out as the pillar of this Crushing victory against World #1 Aussies.
It started with wonderful performance by Gambhir and Sachin (88), where Sachin created a new World record for most runs in Tests. It was followed by Ganguli's 16th and unexpected century and standing captain Dhoni's almost a century at 92.
And what a debut by Amit Misra. In the very first Test he googled five precious wickets. He was well supported by fellow bowlers like Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma with two wickets each. Together, they bundled out Australia for a score of 268 as compared to India's 469, giving India a lead of 201 runs. I believe, India should have asked Aussies to follow on.
Instead, in second Innings, India decided to quickly pile on runs and invited Aussies to chase. In these Innings, India demonstrated even more oneness. First three batsmen quickly amassed a score of 314 for loss of three wickets. Gambhir and Sehwag laid the strong foundation by scoring 189 for their first wicket partnership, followed by Dhoni's 68.
By the end of day four Bhajji had broken the back bone of Aussies by claiming 3 out of five wickets. At the end of Day 4, Aussies were at 141/5 chasing a lead of 515. And the final master stroke came with Zaheer Khan taking three quick wickets and the Aussies crumpled before lunch.
Have you ever come across this kind team game by Indians. I think, this Test should go into India History.
Indian - Australian Test series in India has produced many unexpected and unsung heroes.
1) Amit Misra emerging as Indian hero in his debut Test. Misra googled Australia in the second Test for 5/71, putting them under pressure to follow-on
2) Harbhajan and Skipper Kumble grabbed just 5 wickets for 399 in the first three Innings. Had Australia known this fact ahead of the series, Ponting would have had jumped with joy.
3) Harbhajan hitting his 50s as tail-ender in first innings of first Test in Chennai, while other Indian batsmen struggled
4)
Matthew Hayden, the run machine of 2001 and the scorer of three centuries in Australia last year, has 13 runs from first three Innings
5) Ganguli hitting his 16th century and silencing the critics
