The confidence to lead

In the end, the better team won. The Australians had copped it for their inability to play the turning ball at Gwalior, but on a pitch with more pace and bounce, they clearly showed that they have the ammunition to carry on and win the title, despite the absence of three leading bowlers.

John Buchanan has often talked about the Australian approach of instilling in every team member the confidence to lead. That was evident in the Australian batting performance, and again in the field. The loss of three of their top batsmen fairly early in the piece would have led most teams to take a defensive approach. Not the Australians, though. Their incredible confidence levels shone through in the manner in which Andrew Symonds bludgeoned the ball to all parts.

Then, when Symonds left, Damien Martyn, who notched up his half-century almost unnoticed, took over with a perfect lesson in pacing an innings. His first fifty took 84 balls, the next one a mere 34. Especially memorable was the manner in which he handled Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble during the slog overs, caressing straight-drives which sped to the fence, and lofting an effortless on-driven six off Kumble. It was exquisite batting from one of the most graceful batsmen in the game today.

India's batting effort wasn't quite as top-notch, though. They were lucky to negotiate the new-ball attack with the loss of only two wickets - the number of times VVS Laxman in particular, and Sachin Tendulkar, played and missed early on, India could easily have been four or five down in the first ten overs. Having negotiated that torrid spell, the rest of the batsmen should have made a much better fist of it.

Tendulkar's was a strangely patchy innings: he was anything but convincing early on, and showed signs of coming into his own only against the lesser bowlers. With the Australian tour coming up, his form remains a worry. India's best batsman of the day was easily Rahul Dravid. As impressive as his batsmanship were his tactical skills earlier in the day.

He started off by opening the bowling attack with a spinner. It was a sensible gamble, considering the manner in which Ajit Agarkar had been mauled in his first spell at Gwalior. Dravid showed conviction in his plan as well, continuing with the spin attack despite Virender Sehwag being tonked for 14 in his first over: the fault was in the implementation, not in the tactic itself, Dravid believed, and he was proved right when Harbhajan Singh, and then Anil Kumble, tied down the Australians after Zaheer Khan's early profligacy.

David also impressed with his attacking field placements early on. Even when Gilchrist was on the rampage - the 50th run in the Australian innings was the first one scored by a batsman other than Gilchrist - Dravid attacked Ponting with a short leg, while Martyn had to contend with a short leg and a silly point against Harbhajan. It was imaginative captaincy, which shouldn't get lost just because the result didn't go India's way.

Dravid's tactic of using Agarkar later in the innings paid off delightfully too. Often in the past, Agarkar has struggled to cope with the pressures of bowling with the field restrictions in place. Given the cushion of a slightly more defensive field, he reveled, and the confidence of having bowled an excellent first spell showed at the death too, when he speared in those yorkers. It might be difficult to play three seamers in India, but overseas, Agarkar is clearly the ideal foil to Zaheer and Ashish Nehra.

This defeat, though, will again open up the debate of the virtues of playing an extra batsman and handing the wicketkeeping duties to Dravid. Whether it is the right approach forward depends on whether the team management, and Dravid himself, believes that is the long-term goal of the team. If the idea is to groom a wicketkeeper who can also contribute with the bat, then one defeat against the world champions should not force the Indians to abandon that goal.