Indians on a high

India ended their most productive year in cricket with a 1-0 Test series win against England.

After years of inconsistency and heartbreaks, India finally look like a side capable of taking on any team anywhere.

With the tour of Pakistan now cancelled, India have three months before they get into any serious cricketing action. That will be a tour to New Zealand where India have generally found the conditions difficult to handle.

But New Zealand are not the force they once were and India can hope to start the New Year on a winning note.

Except for the hiccup in Sri Lanka, India showed resilience, fight and attacking instincts which were the biggest woes of years gone by.

The best thing that happened to India was that Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over at the helms from Anil Kumble.

Unorthodox in thinking and always willing to attack, Dhoni is responsible for the major turnaround in Indian cricket.

Under him, the batsmen got a chance to express themselves and the bowlers prospered. Indeed, it was India's bowlers who played a major hand in India's success.

Zaheer Khan had an outstanding year. With his fitness now much improved, he put the opposition under pressure at the start and later came back with reverse swing with the old ball.

Inda have finally found a spearhead after the retirement of Javagal Srinath. Zaheer was well supported by the ever-improving Ishant Sharma who matched pace with aggression.

Though Harbhajan Singh had his moments, he needs to slow down his pace and stop relying too much on the doosra to be more consistent. Amit Mishra is learning his trade quickly and will be a force to reckon with shortly.

India's crowning glory was to chase down 387 runs to clinch a near impossible victory against England in the first Test.

This clearly illustrated that India are now confident of their own abilities. The calm and calculated manner in which they approached the target through a magnificent 163-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh underlines that fact.

Yuvraj finally delivered on his promise. He is part of the new India which Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten are building.

The younger Indian players like Yuvraj, Gautam Gambir and Sharma are willing to take on the opposition aggressively and are adept at returning back the sledging.

Gambhir has been the batting hero. He has formed a fine opening partnership with Virendra Sehwag and this has given India initiative and momentum.

Tendulkar is slowly returning to top form and that is good news for India. He played at least two crucial knocks in the Tests against Australia and England.

With the veterans now almost nearing retirement, India have many promising players waiting to take over. Murali Vijay played the lone Test against the Australians and showed enough promise to win a regular place.

The likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina have played enough to walk into the Test team.

India are now on the threshold of climbing right to the top of rankings. The process has already begun. Consolidation will be the key to reach the top.