INDIA WINS THE SERIES

India beat Australia by 172 runs in the fourth and final Test match played at Nagpur to win the series 2-0.

SCORECARD: India vs Australia, 4th Test, Nagpur, 2008

Brilliant Zaheer&Ishant vs Ineffective Lee&Johnson
Indian new ball bowlers provided breakthroughs for their team at appropriate time consistently throughout this series. Kudos to Ishant for winning the Man of the Series award, his first one! On the other hand Lee was largely ineffective and Johnson not threatening enough. Retirement of McGrath and Warne is telling on the Aussies. McGrath (563 wkts at 21.64), Warne (708 wkts at 25.41), Gillespie (259 wkts at 26.13). Compare these with that of Lee&co: Lee (297 at 30.44), Johnson (47 at 34.87), and Clark (83 at 22.89). Moreover McGrath’s average against India was 51 wkts at 18.64.

Defensive Aussie Batsmen
While Indian batsmen scored their runs at fairly fast clip, their Australian counterparts played defensively. It was unlike Australians. It is one of the reasons for their defeats. All the Indian batsmen barring Rahul Dravid amassed runs at will against the Aussies. Once again Sehwag and Gambhir are brilliant. Murali Vijay replacing banned Gambhir in the final Test match also impressed every one.

Dada’s Last Test Match
It was Ganguly’s last Test match. He began his Test career like Mohammed Azharuddin (scoring centuries in his first two matches, infact Azhar scored three in row) and ended his career like Sir Don Bradman by scoring duck. He is the most successful Indian batsmen in one-day cricket after Sachin. His major success as a batsman came in one-dayers. I consider him as the weakest link among the fab four in Test cricket. His best Test innings are:
*98 not out against Srilanka in 2001 at Kandy
*143 against Australia in 2003-04 at Brisbane
*87 against South Africa in 2008 at Kanpur

Most would consider his captaincy as his major contribution to Indian Cricket. Infact he is the most successful captain India ever had. His greatest strength as captain is his eye for the right talent. He backed them to the core despite their inconsistency. India started to win Test matches abroad regularly only during Ganguly-Wright combine.

INDIA IN TEST CRICKET - GANGULY – DRAVID- WRIGHT PERIOD
GANGULY’S CAPTAINCY