Australia vs India 2018-19: Is the Adelaide Test win a beginning of a new era for Virat Kohli and Co.?
India's recent win in the opening Test of the keenly-observed Australia vs India four-match Test series has been a result of what the Indians learned throughout the period of four years, after they toured the hosts the previous time, back in 2014.
The win, contrary to a few famous overseas victories which concluded in favour of India, was not centred on a single hero or heroic; one of the reasons why this victory will be etched in the hearts of millions for a very long time.
Emerging out victorious in the opening Test has been something India had never done before in the land of kangaroos. While Pujara's brilliance and solidity in both the innings of the match proved as the thin line between India and a loss, the contributions made by the Indian bowlers and Pant with the gloves, can't be ignored.
India's hunt in Australia was comforted by the absence of Smith and Warner. But the celebration and joyous environment after Ashwin sent the last man back to the pavilion, courtesy to KL Rahul who caught a slightly-controversial catch to end the match, was not affected at all.
Now, coming to the centre of the discussion, can this emphatic win turn out to be a new beginning for Indian cricket? Although the win does heal the bruised hearts and souls of more than a billion Indian supporters to some extent, it would be interesting to figure out how this high-on-morale team works together to continue the momentum.
One more reason why this victory could make the Indian side aware of their potential and abilities is their bowling performance. Four bowlers and a Kookaburra ball brought together always makes it a tough task to scalp 20 wickets in a span of just 2-3 days. Nevertheless, the bowling was neat and tidy, disallowing the Aussie batsmen to collect runs with ease.
Although each of the Aussie batsmen looked to keep a price tag to his wicket, the Indian bowlers did well overall; let's forget some nail-biting sessions where all three results looked possible for the time being. And it was definitely not one or two bowlers who made it happen for India; after all, none of the bowlers were able to get a five-wicket haul in either of the two innings.
Now, it's just not worth it to still keep buzzing the music of victory, with a couple of days remaining before the two teams lock horns against each other in Perth.
Similar to KL Rahul who went back to the net session immediately after taking a catch off Ashwin's bowling, it's beneficial to discard any possibility of losing the series with a win in the second Test. Then the team can look forward to the third and the fourth Test matches, instead of getting overjoyed on things which are rare in the context of Indian cricket.