At last, India wins a Test Series!

India beat the West Indies in the final Test match to win the series! Firstly, its quite a relief to not have another drawn Test.

After 30+ years team India has managed to win a Test series outside the sub-continent (barring the worthless Zimbabwae win). Hats off to Dravid and his boys for this achievement. When victories are so far and few, the team management and the team as whole deserves all the credit they can get.

Dravid has clearly lead from the front, particular in this Test where his scores in both innings highlight his value to the team as much as it underscores his superlative skills as a batsman. Finally, we have a captain who is not affected by the extra load of captaincy? Or is that a pre-mature statement?

Top take-aways from this series:

• Irfan Pathan might be on his way to the fast bowlers’ bin to join Balaji, Zaheer, Nehra, Doda Ganesh, Yohanan, Aavishkar Salvi and others.
• Yuvraj Singh though an excellent ODI player, is a highly over-rated Test player and desperately in need of a break. The Jaffers of India who are amassing runs in domestic cricket could do better justice in the Test middle order (Venu, Badani, Mongia, S. Sriram etc.). Its a shame India traded VVS Laxman for Yuvraj in a recent Test match.
• Jaffer is a safe bet for the next couple of series. His weakness outside the off stump is likely to make him easy fodder for McGrath and co.
• VRV Singh could use more domestic experience before playing Test cricket.
• Munaf Patel is proving to be a good consistent bowler. He does seems more effective with a slightly older ball.
• Sreesanth could use some more consistency. His talent shows only in patches unfortunately.
• The two out of form players, Viru and Kaif ended up with a fairly decent tour. Viru put in a very impressive show with the ball as well!
• Greg Chappell has one more feather in his cap and is certain to have further increased his clout in Indian cricket.
• Ganguly’s hopes of a return to the team should have further receded with the series win.
• One can only hope that the selectors will be more sensible in the future and pick an extra batsman or a bowler instead of a second wicket keeper.
• Bhajji is definitely a safer bet in Tests than an inexperience medium pacer.