Days before leaving for the Australia tour, India skipper Anil Kumble highlighted the importance of a good batting attack Down Under.
But it seems he will have little to worry with the likes of V.V.S. Laxman - who always seems to be at his best against the Aussies - Wasim Jaffer and Sourav Ganguly all showing good form during the recent Test series win over Pakistan.
Ganguly was steely during the Pakistan series, and his individual record-setting innings of 239 in the third and final Test at Bangalore absolutely magical.
The India v Pakistan series was a contest between youth and experience and Ganguly lived up to what was expected of him. His career has witnessed a number of ups and downs, especially under former India coach Greg Chappell, who left him out consistently during his reign as coach. Ganguly, though, has always come back strongly.
Australia is probably the last stop for India’s old guard, including Ganguly, and bowing out on a high will be top priority for the Kolkata star.
Twenty20 cricket has helped unearth a number of prolific batsmen, chief among them is Misbah-ul-Haq (pictured).
The self-confessed late bloomer has become the cornerstone of the Pakistan batting line-up since dishing out a storm to help his side reach the finals of the World Twenty20 championship. But what is really terrifying for his rivals is the fact that he has carried his form into the one-day and Test arenas too.
Misbah is a regular in the Pakistan line-up and he will have further strengthened his position in the squad for holding his ground and scoring consistently against India.
The 33-year-old accumulated 464 runs to finish as Pakistan’s chief runscorer in the series. Furthermore, he bailed the team out of a number of tricky situations after the openers had failed to give the side even a half-decent start.
Misbah isn’t half as stylish as Mohammad Yousuf, but he is resourceful and his innings’ kept his team from returning with their tails between their legs.
Anil Kumble couldn’t have asked for a better start to his career as Test captain. A series victory over the nation’s bitterest rivals is the biggest prize any Indian aspiring of skippering the side could possibly hope for and Kumble was to turn his dream into reality.
His performance will have silenced the critics questioning his selection as India skipper for the Pakistan series, but if anyone deserves the India captaincy right now, it is the largely underplayed Bangalorean, who has been a faithful servant to the game for, believe it or not, 17 years.
To start with, Kumble, a qualified mechanical engineer, is intelligent and articulate and his passion and drive to win, combined with his prodigious bowling talent, make him virtually indispensable. Yet Kumble is not one to rest on the laurels of the past, and that, too, against a foe such as Pakistan.
He led from the front throughout the series, employing great tact and skill as his side notched up a 1-0 series win courtesy of victory in the first Test. Kumble claimed 18 victims to finish with the highest number of wickets in the series, but the acid test awaits him in Australia.
If spin bowling is an art form, Danish Kaneria is one of its finest young connoisseurs. The 27-year-old leg-spinner, like most of his predecessors within the Pakistan ranks, has the ability to bowl a wide variety of deliveries from the bewildering googly to the deceiving flipper.
Kaneria was always going to be deadly on the spin-friendly wickets of the sub-continent and India were probably better equipped to play him than Pakistan’s pacemen, including the ‘Rawalpindi Express’, Shoaib Akhtar.
But despite their preparations, Kaneria sneaked past to claim 12 victims, which made him the second-highest wicket taker in the Test series behind Kumble.
There were times when Kaneria seemed like he was merely scratching the surface of his potential; not doing enough and giving away too many runs, but those were just blips on an otherwise great performance that helped him finish as Pakistan’s top bowler.
