Normalizing India

Well, the series is done. India finished at 1-2, which is what I predicted before the series to some of my friends in the office. In fact, I am happy they finished so well, because throughout the first 4 days, I thought India was the one under threat at Adelaide. But Sehwag did some good magic to finish things off well for India.

I know I might get some flak for putting these thoughts in the open, but I think I am being true to the facts, so I am going to go out and let it out. Though some people do think that if the Sydney match had any other result, the effective score for the series would have been different. I beg to disagree. In fact, Indians have a habit of normalizing their game over a period of time. If India had in fact won the Sydney test, the motivation to win it at Perth would not have been there. Indian cricket team does have an emotional side to their game and they drawn upon it at difficult circumstance while drain themselves in comfortable situations.

Had India not seen the ignomity of early failures in the 2003 World Cup and the subsequent defacing by holligans back home, I suspect if they could have risen to such high standards in that World Cup. I suspect if India had not been thrown out of the 2007 ODI World Cup, they would not have got themselves together for the T20 Championships.

On the other hand, when Indians are in the lead, they don't seem to consolidate so well. We saw it in South Africa and England and at home against Pakistan last year where India saw initial success but did not translate it to further success later on in the series, even losing out the series in SA.

So, the moot point is Indias normalize their game and even if they had won it at Sydney, they would have lost it in Perth. so, the score of 1-2 in the end seems a reasonably good end to a tough series.