The Surfer

Should they lose the series there, a crop of inexperienced players, the future of Australian cricket, will be made aware of the fact that they o can lose. To an earlier generation, Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist for example, the initiation years only saw victory. They grew quickly, learnt to win and kept the Aussie juggernaut going. Now if the Johnsons and Whites and Haddins begin their careers with defeat, their mindset will be different. It is there that Australia’s greatest challenge lies.

The strategy was clear; if you win the toss, bat for a minimum of five sessions and put the opposition under pressure. Verbal reassurance from the captain acts like a tonic to his players. Not sure what tactic Dhoni uses in the dressing room when he is the captain, one is inclined to believe that he certainly has definite roles for each player.

Ponting is gun-barrel straight, has a tremendous work ethic and desire for success he expects other to share, and has no political agendas. That's why he and Lee have no lingering issues in the way Warne used to take them into the dressing room and on to the field. When Taylor struggled during the 1996-97 summer Warne was the first to begin muttering "How's Tubby's form?"

What Brett couldn't understand is that Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle had the chance to bowl before him. But by the time I wanted to bowl Brett, we were five overs behind on our over rate. If he were to come on and we went six or seven overs down then I could be suspended under the ICC playing conditions for slow over rates.

Sourav Ganguly slots himself -- rather debatably, as always -- in as John Lennon. Clearly the narcissist of the bunch, he's responsible for tremendously offside lyrics and the uncanny ability to constantly surprise everyone involved.

On Wednesday, a day after the match ended, sources in the Indian team revealed that they had indeed managed to master a new brand of reverse swing in which, rather than waiting for the ball to scruff up naturally with passage of time and overs, the Indians managed to create that condition early. And all this, they stressed, was done perfectly within the rules of the game.

There were always going to be doubts. It was one of the biggest challenges I faced, to see how I would come back after that disappointment. My confidence was shot. I didn't know if I was coming or going. I actually went back to the national academy the next year, where they asked me what I wanted to get out of my time at the academy. I said I just wanted to enjoy the game again.

If I'm out there bowling my heart out and trying to force the batsman into a false stroke by drying up the runs, then why can't the fielder put as much effort into his job? When I'm bowling I count the runs I'm conceding after each delivery and in each over, I enjoy studying my analysis and I hate being hit around. Anytime that I end up conceding a lot of runs I'm furious with myself and I work even harder to make sure that it won't happen again.

Mohali's gone, deal with it. Say well played and carry yourself well, hold your head high. But deep down use it as motivation and keep that hunger that's inside alive.

There is nothing quite like leading from the front and his decision to come in as nightwatchman when Jesse Ryder was dismissed shortly before the end of day four was inspired.