The only disappointment was when the series came to an end in a rain affected match. There was no running for the stumps for souvenirs, There was No high fives and group hugs.. There was no grabbing the Indian Flag and taking the victory lap.. History only creeped in slowly.. 2-0 or 1-0 Dhoni and his men were given the task of getting back home with series win and that is what they are coming back with.
But the obvious question was whether India brought it upon themselves by declaring too late, despite having known the forecast for rain. India were 531 ahead when they started the fourth day, but batted on for half a session. India perhaps didn't want to leave anything to chance after having come so close. "You can't really bank on the weather," Dhoni said. A lot has been said about Dhoni and his delayed declaration in media, but the only answer to silence this attack is with a smile and the trophy in the hand and that is what Dhoni did as he posed for photographs after the press conference.
"What we wanted to do in the second innings was to attack, attack and attack so that even if one ball goes in the air, you want a fielder to catch it. That's only possible when you have the extra 70-80 runs. You don't want to change your plan, whatever position you are in. With two days of play, we knew it may rain, but at that point of time, it was not certain. With the amount of wind that goes around, there was a very good chance that the clouds would have been blown away also." He added. The safety-first approach highlighted India's lack of success overseas. The value of this win was immense and its enormity is beginning to be understood. "It's a fantastic atmosphere [in the dressing room], can't get better," Dhoni said.
"We have set the benchmark," Dhoni said. "Next time when we come to New Zealand, people expect you to win. You have achieved something that's big, but the tough part is to maintain it, to sustain it. It never gets easy for a cricketer. If you have not achieved something, there's pressure on you to achieve it. Once you have achieved it, there is pressure to sustain it. Nothing comes easy, it will be tougher for the guys who come on the next tour."
Criticism: This is the worst NZ side of the past, the wickets were flat and suited the Indians. The absence of Shane Bod and other experienced players has affected the way the Kiwis perform. That probably signifies the reason for Kiwi's at no.8 in the test rankings. India on the other hand had every single person in the team in supreme form which was not when the team toured in the past. In the past the wickets were lively and Indians found it tough to stay on the wicket. It would have been bad for Indian cricket if they had not won on this easy paced tracks.
"Contributions came when they were needed," he said. "Wickets were on the flatter side, there wasn't much in it for the bowlers, so they have to keep on changing their plans and improvising at times. The same applied with the batsmen as well. Overall, the effort by the bowlers was really great, and the lower-order contribution is very important because that really takes the morale of the team up. Whenever it was really needed from them, the lower-order contributed.
"We didn't rely on one specific individual, everybody contributed. Each and every batsman scored at some point in the series and the same applies to the bowlers also. At times, there was one end, which was not favoring the seamers, maybe because of the wind or not much help from the wicket. Still, bowling your heart out from that end, you really need quite a determined body and mind to do that. Quite happy with the performance overall."
No matter what team India has achieved in terms of performance and criticism, They come back with a series win, and a tough 41 year record off their backs. This is not the first time this team has had records off their backs, here are some list of the 'First's' that India achieved in the last months (If i can recall)
1st ever CB Series win in Austrlia
1st Series win in South Africa
1st Clean sweep of 5-0 against England
Highest margin of victory of 300 + runs over Australia
Highest run chase of 342 runs in the last innings to win a test match
1st one day series win in NewZealnd soil
1st test series win in NZ after 41 years
1st one day series win in west Indies
And many other such records.
Talking about records, Rahul Dravid now holds the record of highest number of catches taken by any cricketer around the world. Every run that Sachin Tendulkar scores is a record in itself. He scored some fantastic fifties and hundreds throughout the tour. Sehwag showed his form with the bat in the one day series, Gambhir did it during the tests. Dhoni and Laxman contributed with the bat. Harbhajan took 16 wickets, highest in the series and scored a match winning 60 in the last test. Zaheer chippe in with the bat and the ball. Only disappointments for India would have been the form of Ishant Sharma and Yuvraj Singh. Third Seamer Munaf patel did well but needed t step up his game to help India dominate the matches.
with almost no test cricket for India until December 09 in Bangladesh, Team India will be hoping to find some fresh talent and more importantly a bowling all rounder to complete the test side. The players are now headed home, and after spending sometime with their families they will be off to South Africa for IPL followed by their visit to England for the world Twenty20.
All player Statements courtesy CricInfo
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Kunal Janu
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