It wasn’t that long ago, twenty seven months isn’t that long, that we indulged in a familiar orgy of breast beating after crashing out of a World Cup. Now that situation is upon us again and doubtlessly it will return in our lifetime. Sport is like that; reputations count for only a little and the better side on the day wins. West Indies and England were better than India at Lord’s and anybody would have been better at Nottingham.

So were India a good team that played below par or were they over-rated? It is easy to assume the latter but good teams don’t become bad overnight. They might pick up bad habits, a disease somewhere, they might occasionally need a kick up the backside, some deficiencies might surface, but they do not become bad teams. As recently as in the warm-up game (a colossal misnomer!) against Pakistan two weeks ago, India looked in sizzling form.

It is interesting to look back at that game. Rohit Sharma seemed to belong at the top of the order, his shots took your breath away at times and it seemed that Sehwag may not be missed after all. His batting was one of the highlights of that game but the turning point came early in the Pakistan innings when they were finding every boundary on the ground. Suresh Raina hit the stumps directly and Pakistan never really recovered from there.

It happens all the time. Big wins are fashioned by little things done well and it was the little things India did in South Africa that helped win the title two years ago. Against the West Indies at Lord’s, it was catches by Simmons and Fletcher that stopped India, and against England, Stuart Broad timed his jump perfectly to ensure that Jadeja’s shot didn’t sail over him for six.

... contd.