THUNDER DOWN UNDER!

On the very first day of the third Test at Perth, a die-hard optimist voted in India's favour when it came to choosing the winner in a poll on this blog. Going by Australia's stupendous record at Perth, they had not lost a Test at WACA in nearly 11 years, many would have labelled him a fool... An idiot who had no idea of what was in the offing at "world's fastest wicket". Ricky Ponting and his men were supposed to reign supreme in those conditions.

No team had beaten them in Test cricket in nearly two and half years. No team had been able to stop their run of 16 consecutive wins in the longer version of the game. No team was supposed to be good enough to even match their high standards. And, moreover, they had a certain Shaun William Tait in their eleven, a speed machine who was bold enough to declare that he will knock the Indians over by delivering the fastest ball in the history of the game. What happened to him, and Team Australia, in the next four days is now part of the cricketlore.

India sealed a historic 72-run win, that too with over a day to spare. "To win over here, this has got to be without doubt the greatest win Indian cricket has had over the last 35-40 years," hailed batting legend Sunil Gavaskar. It was indeed. The thunder Down Under has completely shattered the Aussie pride. Who would've predicted this result after the controversy-ridden second Test in Sydney when the visitors had almost pulled out of the series.

It was a 37-year-old engineer-turned-cricketer who kept his cool in those challenging circumstances and plotted Australia's downfall within a week. No wonder then that Anil Kumble didn't wink a second to call the victory at Perth as his "best win ever". Crossing a personal milestone of taking 600 Test wickets in the match and ending up on the losing side would have greatly disappointed the Indian skipper.

Almost everything worked in Jumbo's favour, right from winning the toss and electing to bat first to showing faith in Virender Sehwag and throwing the new ball to Irfan Pathan. This from a man who quiet humbly accepted the challenge of captaincy after greats like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar turned down the offer.

So, it's time to hail Team India's historic triumph. But, let us not lose our perspective. The Aussies are bound to strike back at Adelaide. That's where the fourth and final Test starts from Thursday.