'17 another time, mate'

Its finally over. A thrilling match in Perth, a pitch which was deemed the fastest in the world, ends with a convincing win for India. This match will go down as one of the turning points in the history of Australian cricket. Certainly its to do with the Sydney Saga, and the aftermath of playing with a lot of spirit and honor. Anil Kumble can stand for election in any constituency in India and can win hands down today.

Its not about just winning, but winning after taking the high moral ground. Indian players maintained a very good body language throughout the match with very few exceptions. That really speaks a lot for the mental frame of mind they were in. Its not every day that you get to play in Perth. So for the Indians to play in Perth, after a gap of 16 years, it was obviously fair that they had no idea of the pitch or the pace off it.

Having spent sleepless hours in the past few days, sincerely following 80% of the match live, I can feel very satisfied now that I can enjoy the moment even more!! Termed now as the 'greatest' test match victory ever by India - this is a moment of vindication for India, in more than one ways. Even before the series started, the Indians were venting the right vibes and were really focussed on getting the prized 'series' victory in Australia. It all ended up sourly in Sydney.

In many ways, the ghosts of Sydney have actually redeemed themselves in Perth. That the team was huddled in a hotel for two days became opportunistically a 'successful re-grouping activity' with the mission of proving a point on the cricket field. And thats the reason why Australia lost. The backing of every single fan in the moment of crisis, really helped the moral attitude of the team.

The decision to make Kumble the captain of the Australian series, has been the blessing of the year. Its fair to say, anyone else, would have handled the Sydney fiasco in either a too aggressive or soft manner. Kumble had the right percentage of both these traits and he knew how to balance it out. The forgiving of Hogg was the masterstroke ahead of the game.

Tendulkar and Dravid played vital roles in the 1st innings. That really created the backbone of the Indian success. The combination of this team is as good as it gets for India, in recent years. Its good in a way, that Pathan and Sehwag, the new entrants to the squad - made most of the difference between the two teams. The balance of the side at the moment looks excellent.

Ishant Vs Ponting's score of 2-0 speaks volumes of the talent of the young man. 4 years ago, Irfan Pathan had emerged as one such talent and he is today the 'Man of the Match'. Australian and British pitches indeed help the fast bowlers more than the Indian ones and its not suprising to see our bowlers do well in these conditions.

It has to be said that VVS Laxman played the 'character' role in this match. The kind of role, which in Indian cinema would relate to the 'silent good-doer' behind the hero, who pitched in whenever the hero was in trouble. Its not easy to play No.3 in one match and then No. 7 in the other. Both positions are totally different in terms of the way you approach it. Kumble is very lucky to have such flexible 'minded' batsmen in his squad, players who put the match situation in front of their personal targets and carve a place for themselves depending on the position of the match.

Sehwag is considered a very smart captain in the Indian cricket ciruit and his suggestion to Kumble to keep Ishant one for an additional over got the wicket and turned the tide today. Thats smart thinking for me! Kumble's thought process did the rest by bringing Sehwag on, showing Gilchrist and Lee - the door to defeat. Australians will swing and swing hard. Thats only fair to say. When one of my colleagues asked me today morning, what would be the margin of victory, I said '80-100' runs. I wasnt too far off the mark.

Perth has been conquered. The Indian flag is flying high. But not before the 'Indianness' of a billion people was put to test in Sydney, not before the 'sportsmanship' of the Australians was questioned all over the world and not before Kumble said - 'Only one team played in the spirit of the game'.

With that background, the battle was indeed lost but the war has been won. And that, for me, is the home run, the first of the many nails in the Australian coffin. There is definitely something to tell to Ponting's men though, sweet 16 but '17 another time, mate'!!!