78 days of Cricket... Over 200 hrs. of play on the field and a few over mind. Battle lines drawn in high nerves. And one team that kept its cool emerged victorious. How else you could sum up the just concluded High-voltage tour of India in Australia. In fact its inevitable to stay away from a dramatic style while giving an account of the tour after all that happened in the course of the tour easily resembled a perfect thriller drama. The tour which started on Dec.26, 2007 never failed to drop its killer ingredients till the last moment of the Common Wealth Bank Series Final on Mar.4, 2008.

Drubbed at MCG, Indians were pumped up to save their face in Sydney. Everybody knew Aussies are a strong team, but definitely so with two more on their side in the form of the so-called Umpires in the name of Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. Cricket was also played there in addition to the main game of sledging and who-said-it racist comments play. India lost the game and Australia, the goodwill. The Famous Harbahajan- Symonds row cornered all the sports quarters leaving very little to the match itself. Down by 2-0, Indians had only one way to go... that�s up.

And at Perth, they did that with style by subjecting the Aussies to a frustrating defeat. A lot was written and spoken about the bouncy track in Perth, but fortune favoured the brave when Anil Kumble lead the resilient Indians to a famous victory that turned back the spot light to the game at last.

It was a tame draw at Adelaide and Aussies clinched the series but not before letting Indians win the hearts and savage their pride.

With the srilankans joining up for the Tri-series, the CB series only got more exciting and riveting. With M S Dhoni in the driver seat for the One dayers, Indians lead their way to a spectacular place in the finals and the rest as they is history.

Come finals... Sachin displayed why he is the God of Cricket and even Ricky Ponting never shied away from asking his teammates to take a leaf out of the little master�s style of cricket. Finally, Indians tasted their first series victory after 23 years. A battle Won. A lion conquered in its own den. Indians the New Common wealth Bank Series Champions. .A perfect finish indeed!

The tour had its glimpses of great cricketing acumen from players of both sides. Mathew Hayden, the macho opener consistently frightened the Indian new ball attack and one can never miss to notice the relief on the Indians when he had to stay out of the third test. Jumbo Kumble spun his way to Australia�s top order so regularly, the anxiety of a wicket turned almost into anticipation. Sachin Tendulkar added few more milestones in his path and broke his jinx of not scoring a century in Australia with a match winning 117 in the first finals. When the team selection was made for the One day series, there was a huge uproar on sidelining seniors. But, the young boys proved their youth power by outsmarting the Aussies in more than one occasion. Without doubt, Ishant Sharma can well become the poster boy of Indian Pace bowling attack.

A perfect booster for the South African series Down-under.

A S M