India lost all three tosses on pitches where the side batting first had a huge advantage.  India also lost four key players, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth, and Gautam Gambhir, and their normally prolific No. 3, Rahul Dravid was a no show.  Yet they battled the odds to win final Test and square the series at the P. Sara Oval, a fortress for the home side, where Sri Lanka had not lost a Test since 1994 and where India had never won a Test ever.  The series, however, left a lot of questions for Indian cricket fans.  In no particular order here are some thoughts that crossed fans’ minds.  An obvious question was, is this the last we see of Yuvraj in the test arena? Suresh Raina averaging 110 in his debut tour and 1 century, 1 half century and a 40* at a crucial time on a 5th day SL pitch/spinners has certainly staked his claim very strongly to make the No. 6 position his own permanently.  One possible scenario could see Rahul Dravid’s spot in the batting line up open up in the near future and be claimed by Yuvraj.  However, there are several pretenders in the background, including Murali Vijay, who will undoubtedly vacate the opener’s spot once Gautam Gambhir is back in the side, as well as Subramaniam Badrinath and Cheteshwar Pujara to contest Yuvraj’s claim such as it may be.

On the spin bowling front Pragyan Ohja definitely did much better than expected.  With an orthodox slow left arm spinner, to tie one end up, it should give whoever is bowling at the other end, Harbhajan, with his off spin, or Mishra, with his leg spin and googlies, a great foil to work with.  Harbhajan Singh however is a huge worry.  He looked totally out of it in the series, and was out bowled by part-time off spinner Virender Sehwag, who ended up the best bowler in terms of bowling average from the Indian side, and missed being the highest wicket taker by only one wicket.  People talk about how Twenty20 cricket can mess with a batsman’s technique, but it can wreck havoc with that of a bowler, particularly a spinner.  That India were always bowling first on flat wickets in the first two Tests, and when the wicket was offering some turn even on the first day, in the third, Harbhajan was out of the side, only exaggerated his apparent failure.  It is quite possible that given how well Sehwag and Randiv did in the last Test, Bhajji could have bounced back with one of his trademark bowling performances.  I would still give the benefit of the doubt to him, especially considering his fabulous record, but there is no doubt India should be looking to unearth good spinners.  R. Ashwin, the offie, has shown promise, and Murali Karthik has been bundling out sides in English County cricket, but overall the cupboard does look quite bare.  This is particularly worrisome, as India have always produced quality spinners in large numbers, from the days or Palwankar Baloo, to Vinoo Mankad and Subhash Gupte, to the Spin Quartet and beyond.

As for fast bowling, India had nobody to match Sri Lanka’s Malinga, in terms of ability to swing and reverse swing it at high pace.  Instead India, in the absence of Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth who may have swung it, were forced to rely on the hit the deck bowling of Ishant Sharma, and debutant Abhimanyu Mithun.  Munaf Patel, who was brought in as cover for an injured Sreesanth, didn’t get a game.  However considering the flat nature of the pitches, and the grueling conditions, the faster bowlers should be cut some slack.  Ishant’s bowling improved as the series progressed, and it is pretty clear that on bouncier pitches in places like South Africa and Australia Ishant and Mithun could prove to be a handful, especially if they have the swing and guile of Zaheer Khan to back them up.  What one must question is how well is the bowling coach keeping the bench prepared for the inevitable break downs among the faster men.  Under Venkatesh Prasad the Indian fast bowlers as a group out bowled England in England and Australia both in Australia and in India.  It is quite unfathomable why he not the bowling coach. 

In the final analysis, India who successfully defended their No. 1 ranking and now are nearly 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals, while playing top ranked teams like South Africa and Sri Lanka, fully deserve their position at the top of the ICC Test rankings.  And this fact will make the upcoming Test series against Australia, and South Africa that much more interesting and exciting for the Indian fan, which can only be good for the health of Test cricket globally.

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