This has been a few tremendously emotional couple of weeks in sport for me; the NFC title game, Sydney Test and its aftermath. Bobby Fischer's death and now the Perth Test.

Indians have sometimes a way of going overboard on victories, perhaps because until the recent past we have not had that many of them. But the win in Perth was something special.

The cynical part of me says this is too good a script, but that is a very small part . The most creatively talented people at the BCCI , ICC and the ACP could not have come up with something like this in 1,000 years.

'The Indians were in total disarray after the Sydney Test. Many people wanted to end the tour'


I don’t think people who say Test matches are not the future really know cricket. This match showed why ODIs and Twenty20 can’t hold a candle to Test cricket.

Australia do not lose at Perth. Since 1985-86, they have never lost to anybody but the West Indians. They have not lost there in the last decade. No sub-continental team has even got a draw there.

The Indians were in total disarray after the Sydney Test. Harbhajan Singh’s race issue, 2-0 down, it looked like everything was against them. In fact many people wanted to end the tour.

But somewhere the gentle giant Anil Kumble started thinking about his options. There are times in a man’s life when his character comes to the fore. This was Kumble’s defining moment. He dropped Brad Hogg’s charges. Leave the Aussies with their gamesmanship - Kumble knows one way to play - hard with integrity.

''I know we are down and I know it looks like everything is against us. But we are going to go out there in Perth and give it all we have. We can’t control the umpires or the Aussies, but we will play strong and true,” he told the media before the Test.

A decent first innings provided in part by a good partnership between Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar posted a good (if a little modest) score for the Indians. The Aussie bowlers were supposed to dominate but it was the Indians who did, with a Test discard and teenager. Irfan Pathan did not even think he would get the new ball, with questions of his pace still lingering.

But not only did he get the new ball, he dismissed the openers in both innings. And one of the most memorable parts of the Test was the one-hour battle in the second Innings between Ishant Sharma and the one of the greatest batsmen of our time, Ricky Ponting. It was truly amazing watching the Aussie skipper hold on for his dear life against this new kid.

And of course, Kumble reaching 600 wickets was a special moment in itself, along with Virender Sehwag not only getting decent starts but also bagging a couple of wickets in the second Innings (including bowling Adam Gilchrist round his legs). VVS Laxman guiding India to a total lead of 413 was also crucial. This man really is 'Very Very Special'.

The Australians never give up without a fight and Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark showed why they are the best in the world. They will not stop fighting until the very end and then they will fight some more.

And India did just that.