World spell-bound, Australia whitewashed, Indians all smiles! :)

Indian sports has taken the world by storm. Be it the gold mining at the CWG, or getting our mates from down under taste a dose of their own medicine, it has been a fortnight of tasting some sweet revenge! The dazzling opening ceremony of had the world spell-bound by the immense diversity of Indian culture. If the world was bowled over by the opening ceremony, they had a few more surprises in the days to come. 96 medals and still counting, the international sporting arena has now been woken up to sit back and take notice: India has arrived.

Being the cricket frenzied nation that we are, CWG or Olympics, nothing can stop the Indian sports lover from keeping track of any ongoing cricket series. The India-Australia clash, happens to be amongst the most significant. One of the reasons for this contest to surpass the intensity of even that between the rivals who share a common border (IND Vs PAK), is that, of late, these contests have started grabbing eyeballs for all the wrong reasons. Be it abusing on field, and calling each other names, or just cheating their way through to a victory, the Australian players have always offended the Indian cricket freaks.

This test series was exceptional for a number of reasons.

1.Australia whitewashed. More significant because this has happened for the first time in nearly three decades. The last time happened was way back in 1982 against Pakistan.

2.Aussie domination ends. Post this series, the Kangaroos slipped to the 5th position. This has happened for the first time since 2003.

3.India justify their being at the top of the charts. Individual performances were the cherries on the pie.

4.The Mohali test somehow, managed to steer back attention to tests. Being the cliff hanger of a match that it was, the nail-biter, brought back the old world charm into the homes of people, who had long lost their interest in the extended version of the game.

5.Zaheer and Tendulkar at the helm of the top test bowlers and batsmen tables respectively.

6.The 216 chase was one of India’s highest run chases ever. Nerve racking too!

7.If we talk about the positives for the Indian cricket team to take back home, young lad Cheteshwar Pujara holding on his nerves was fabulous.

8.Very Very Sorted out Laxman. Injury nibbled on to him, yet the next-to-impossible victory that he earned for the team was emphatic.

9.SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR. Words fall short. If he is called the God of world cricket, well there’s enough substantial reason to justify it. 37th year of his life; 1270 test runs; mind-boggling average of 97.69. Two half centuries and a double hundred in this series also took him past the 14,000 test run mark, making him the first person to have achieved it. The Lord of the Pitch, we bow down to thee!!

And what can I say about the crowd at Bengaluru? Even the great Tendulkar couldn’t stop himself but be all praises for them. Here’s hoping that this golden run continues!