The Border-Gavaskar Trophy - 2010

It was short, it was closely fought and in the end it just left you wanting for more.

India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by winning both the Tests. However the matches were far closer than the final scoreline suggests. Australia had a real chance for victory but India played like the true world number ones. In fact it can be said that India played like the way Australia played in their dominant era. They fought till the last. In the Mohali game, when all seemed lost, Australia's permanent nemesis Laxman alongwith Ishant staged a massive rearguard to take India to victory. In the second test, a score of 206 was simply chased down at a real fast rate (that too without any contibution from Sehwag). Some of the series highlights were.

The most happening ball - when Pragyan Ojha should have been given out LBW by Billy Bowden, but wasn't. Then could have been run out by Steve Smith, who missed by a couple of inches. Instead the ball went for 4 overthrows.

Sachin Tendulkar - The master scaled newer heights and seems set to go on and on.

VVS Laxman - Limping with a bad back, yet he is there to deny Australia victory.

Cheteswar Pujara's debut - This was one debutant who was being followed with keen interest in the domestic circuit. Got out for 4 in the first innings. In the second innings was promoted and hit 72 (incidentally the same score which VVS got in the 1st Test).

Both tests played to a similar pattern. Australia batted first scored big. Then India batted and reached the Aussie total and then collapsed. In the second innings there was an Aussie collapse. And India needed a score of just over 200 to win. In the first they barely reached there. In the second it was a comfortable chase, with the young guns (Vijay & Pujara) laying the foundation for the old masters (Sachin & Dravid) to provide the finsihing touches.

Australia now have dropped to the 5th spot. And seem a bit more unsettled than before with question marks over the places of North & Hauritz.

In the end the series was too short. Should have been longer.