India, who under previous coach Greg Chappell, were supposed to have been doing anything and everything to build up a strong ODI team -- even if it came at the expense of India’s Test fortunes -- were outclassed in the limited-overs version of the game, but gave a splendid account of themselves in the Test matches.

This result in a way confirms the long held suspicion that Greg Chappell was nothing more than a slick talking salesman of cricketing snake oil. Given the job of Indian Coach with the sole purpose of putting together a strong ODI team for the ICC Champions Trophy and the World Cup, he delivered nothing and didn’t even take the team forward. Instead the Indian team once again had to fall back on the tried and true, though clearly tiring trio of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid in batting, and the veteran pace man Zaheer Khan in bowling, in the limited overs arena. The other Indian bowler who made an impact was Ramesh Powar, who was left behind in India, for the World Cup, because he didn’t fit Chappell’s mental picture of a multi-dimensional limited overs player. All the so called “Chappell Youth”, such as Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel even Dinesh Karthik were missing in action in the limited overs game.

In the Test arena, the absence of Greg Chappell meant that the team was a happy and united bunch. The canny veterans Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Zaheer Khan, and Kumble along with Captain Dravid were once again the core of the team. This was basically the core, with the exception of Dravid, that Chappell sought to sideline by hook or crook through his Machiavellian machinations.

At the end of the day, winning the Test match series over the team ranked second in the World, that too while playing against them away, must rank as a superb achievement, worthy of India’s victory over the same opponents in 1971 when England were also riding high.

Losing the limited overs series, albeit narrowly, to a team ranked seventh in the world must hurt a bit, but at least even at the end of the series India were still ranked sixth on the ICC’s own official rankings.

With the Twenty20 World Cup about to Start, and the veterans all taking a rest, India may finally be starting to prepare its team for the future, but in a much more sensible and dignified manner, rather than the acrimonious and destructive mode that Greg Chappell tried to implement. It is also quite fitting that the architect of that short lived period of tension and turmoil in Indian cricket is busy coaching 14 year olds on a part-time basis, and flogging team building and management to hapless young executives in places like Canberra and Singapore.

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