“History has repeated itself, though after such a long time,” said spin legend E.A.S. Prasanna, in response to the Indian test series win in New Zealand after a drought of 40 years. In 1968-69, Prasanna was a part of the victorious international cricket team, which under the leadership of M.A.K. Pataudi, won their first Test series in New Zealand. Prasanna was quoted in the cricket news as saying that the current Indian team is among the best ever and that this was a deserved win. He was disappointed by the fact however that the rain played spoilsport and prevented India from winning the second test as well.

For his part, Indian skipper M S Dhoni, while elated at the win is also of the view that this is a benchmark that is difficult to live up to. Now that a decades long jinx has been broken, subsequent Indian teams visiting New Zealand in the future will also be expected to win. What was heartening for Dhoni was the fact that this victory was truly a team effort, which each and every player making a contribution. He singled out batsman Gautam Gambhir and pacer Zaheer Khan for special mention saying that they had improved with each game they played and that they raised the bar each time.

Daniel Vettori, has been gracious and appreciative of the Indian player throughout the game, however, he did express his chagrin at having lost a great opportunity to capitalise on a score of 204 for 6 on the first day of the third test which could have gone on to win the match for the Kiwis and consequently level the series. With India starting to prove their mettle in away series as well, Vettori is of the opinion that this Indian team is right up there with the Aussies and the Proteas right now.

The BCCI is also very happy with the Indian win in New Zealand, as evidenced by their generous gift of Rs 15 lacs per player of the Indian side. Shashank Manohar, President, BCCI congratulated the team for their performance and for winning both the ODI series as well as the test series.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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