India Test threat in post-Waugh era
By Don Riddell, CNN World Sport
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Waugh watches the final shot of his 168th and last Test match
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LONDON, England -- Australian legend Steve Waugh is rightly commanding the attention and dominating the headlines in the immediate aftermath of a glittering career.
His records as a captain and a batsman speak for themselves; he shaped the Australian team in his own image, and redefined cricket at Test level.
Whatever happens next for Australia, it is the end of an era. Ricky Ponting will be a capable successor, but the team he inherits isn't getting any younger.
And over the last few weeks, Ponting has witnessed at first hand a team that is now capable of challenging their world dominance.
We shouldn't underestimate what India have achieved during the last four Tests. -- the away team set most of the records broken in Waugh's last stand in Sydney.
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In particular, India's first innings total of 705 for five declared was the highest made by a touring side down under in more than 70 years.
So often in this series, India gave their hosts a taste of what every other Test-playing nation has been on the receiving end of for the last decade.
Their batting line-up of Sehwag, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, and of course, Tendulkar have proved they are a formidable bunch.
But we always knew India could bat. What's so often been their downfall has been their fallibility in the field. And as this series has shown, that is no longer the case.
India arrived in Australia in disarray. They were coming off the back of a stalemate against New Zealand at home and some disastrous showings in the TVS cup. To get it together in Australia's backyard has been no mean feat.
And it's not just this series that we should be examining. Since the introduction of the Border-Gavaskar trophy in 1996, the two teams have been evenly matched.
And of the four players who've scored 1,000 runs and averaged more than 50 against this Australian team, three are from India.
It seems hardly fair that their achievements only warrant an increase of one place to fifth in the ICC's world Test championship.
They know they're one of the two best sides in the world at the moment, and Ponting and Australia know too that they're going to have to work even harder now to stay at number one.
Don Riddell presents World Sport on CNN International at 0930 GMT, 1230 GMT, 1430 GMT, and 2130 GMT daily (also 0030 GMT at weekends and daily in Asia.)
