It was refreshing to see the way the Indian team dismantled the Aussies in Mumbai in the one-off Twenty20 international. The way India played, it completely justified the tag of world champions. The team was virtually unknown when they started the ICC Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. But the way they played in Mumbai, whatever doubts remained about their ability were answered with remarkable poise and style.

The difference between the performance of the Indian team during the ODIs and the Twenty20 matches was a treat to watch, especially the fielding and running between the wickets. The youngsters injected much-needed urgency into the field, thereby compensating for the lack of experience in Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. The fear aspect was so visibly missing.

The next important strategy is how to convert the results from Twenty20 to ODIs. They need to balance this with the presence of the Big Three. The selectors have to plan how they will phase out the seniors in the coming months. A rotation policy, in the guise of resting one of the Big Three every game,  would be the best policy to ensure that this can happen.

'Gautam Gambhir has to be given a chance to score in ODIs or he might become a Twenty20 specialist'

If the Big Three can play their natural game and ensure that a decent score is made up to the 30th over with wickets in hand, the youngsters can come in, Twenty20-style, and hit runs without fear. This is the only way youngsters can be blooded in the big arena. Gautam Gambhir has to be given a chance to score in ODIs or he might become a Twenty20 specialist.

Murali Kartik and Harbhajan Singh's form augurs well as they spin the ball in opposite directions. The pace bowlers will have to step up a gear in order to give away fewer runs. Irfan Pathan has been doing a great job since his comeback - he has to be rewarded with the new ball the next time India plays. Virender Sehwag still has a long way to go before he can merit a place in the ODI team (and where will he fit is another headache if and when he performs). Robin Uthappa has shown that he can occupy the place of MS Dhoni down the order so that the captain can move up.

Pakistan will provide a good test for the Indians. Both the teams are young, with new captains. But Pakistan have the edge with coach Geoff Lawson already in the job.