By Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

The match in Goa set up the game nicely for the final of the four match series against Sri Lanka. To top it, India won the match after losing the previous match from a winning position. And would the match in Vishakhapatnam see India in top and raring to go in time for the World Cup?

Zaheer Khan has had a successful comeback. And this was yet another occasion to prove that things were looking up for him. His five wicket haul was even more significant from the point of view that the early blows he dealt were such that Sri Lanka barely recovered and even when it did, there was so much it could have done.

For India though, the chase was once again set up by Sourav Ganguly who now appears a mainstay for the Indian line up. He may have missed out on a half century by two runs. But it left Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni with a relatively easier task, despite the early loss of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh who was sent up the order with a view to getting a few runs under his belt.

But Vishakhapatnam saw positive signs for India to suggest that perhaps the team had not completely come down in the face of some bizarre experimentation policies that struck team India like an epidemic. But perhaps the biggest relief was the fact that two of India’s uncertain young men got into the scheme of runs. While Yuvraj Singh’s recuperation took longer than the Indian team management would have liked, Virender Sehwag has been a topic of debate all by himself. But on the day not only did Sehwag get more than a few runs under his belt, but also, Yuvraj Singh came within five runs of scoring a century on comeback.

That India finally won the match was great. But it put the spirit for team India amongst the fans in the right frame of mind to support them when they leave for the Caribbean later in the week. Whether India can pick up the match with the same fervour to want to set right remains to be seen in the World Cup. But suddenly India’s odds certainly appear better than they did before the eight match series at home. A 3-1 victory against the West Indies and 2-1 against the Sri Lankans has suddenly livened up interests for the World Cup.

A little known matter is the fact that one innings does not determine a player’s form. But it is certainly an indicator. Sehwag’s fans would want to say that he had never really lost his form. But there is history to suggest that his innings against Sri Lanka has not been followed up by a glorious innings in the domestic games. It will perhaps take a lot more to suggest that Sehwag is confident enough to take on the mighty in the World Cup at the top of the order. But if some people (read: Chappell) are to be believed, the coach had an ulterior motive and actually challenged Sehwag to perform in the middle order to merit his place at the top of the order. It can only be that the coach is super confident or that his experimentation has perhaps not entirely conspicuously ended.

There has been plenty of debate about how much Chappell can and should be attributed for either Sourav Ganguly or Zaheer Khan’s return to the Indian team in style and prolific form. While the coach is quoted to have blatantly claimed the former’s case, it seems a rather far fetched idea considering the disgraceful manner how things shaped up in Zimbabwe. To dig up the past would be drudgery at this point but if matters can be so conspicuous about credit and where it should be attributed, one just fears the chronic amnesia that would engulf the team should it earn the ultimate glory. Some lessons were certainly learnt, others too valuable to be forgotten. What will be remembered, which of these will be forgotten and more importantly, how much will be applied for the World Cup, (the event for which the entire saga of Chappell’s reign has been endured and chronicled in good measure)?