India dominant beyond doubt, Shastri man of the moment

Dhaka, May 29 (UNI) After India's World Cup debacle, Bangladesh series was meant to be a comeback for the team in general and Sachin Tendulkar in particular, but it was cricket manager Ravi Shastri who stole the limelight.

Shastri, whose 46th birthday coincided with India's biggest ever win in Test cricket, was the man of the moment as he brought back into the team a 'well-oiled' feel.

After the match on Sunday, Shastri said the team performed like a well-oiled machine and the camaraderie was just palpable, even after the team bus left without Sourav Ganguly in Chittagong and later Laxman Shivaramakrishnan forgot to mention Ganguly and Zaheer Khan's name while giving away the prizes after India won the Test series.

When asked what kind of talks went on in the dressing room, Shastri said, ''That's best to be kept in the dressing room.

I spoke to each one individually and the team is playing like a unit and the team spirit is really high.'' He, however, clarified his stance on one-series assignment, saying he had agreed to take up the job as India was going through a 'hard time' and had other commitments, which he needed to honour after this series.

On whosoever's hands he leaves the team, he will get a bunch of boys -- senior and junior -- who move like a pack, and the jarring effect which the team showed during the World Cup is history.

Moreover, this series also buried the ghosts of the Greg Chappell era. While Chappell left the job after completing his four-year contract on a disappointing note, Rahul Dravid retained his captaincy for this series as well as the next in England.

However, it was more important for the team to once again climb up from where it was thrown and did successfully achieve that under Shastri.

As far as the series is concerned, the Indian team had put beyond doubt that the black Saturday at Trinidad was an aberration and they are a far more superior side than Bangladesh any day.

Although Dravid refused to call it either revenge or redemption series, incidentally it was both, for India as they were being shown the exit door in the first round of the World Cup by the same opponents. But they showed their supremacy by winning the ODI series 2-0 and Test 1-0.

If it was a series of bolstering their own egos, then they were pushed hard by the hosts in the ODIs at least and that's why the victory was savoured more.

However, this feeling eventually came to the fore after the 'Men in Blue' registered their victory with the biggest margin ever -- by an innings and 239 runs -- in the second Test here on Sunday.

''For us, in some ways it was a lose-lose situation, wasn't it? Had we not done well, people would have said 'what's happening'. Had we won, it's not a big deal. So, it was tough in that sense,'' the Indian skipper said after clinching the series.

''I don't get excited by most situations. My belief is to keep things in perspective whether it is victory or defeat.

We will take some heart from this win, some positives,'' he added in a rather philosophical tone.

While, India won the two ODIs they found two dependable wicket-keeper batsmen in MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, with the latter excelling with every game. The bowlers too came good in the second tie and kept the momentum going into the Tests.

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