The stage was set for the last Champions Trophy; the curtain’s raised and the fans for whom Cricket is religion here in India were presented with an unexpected mind blowing professional performance by the Men in Blue – the not-so-often seen electric movements in the field, a long awaited good opening partnership and some excellent spells by the Indian bowlers.

Apart from all that, the most exciting and surprising of the lot was their technique against short pitch deliveries in the recently held ICC Champions Trophy.

India emerged victorious beating 6 top sides in the world in the space of 20 days.  In the past few years, I have often seen India raising their game.  The memories of the Q/F, S/F and Final of the ICC World Cup 2011; the sudden rise in the intensity on field, the 3^Rd ODI against Pakistan recently, the Hobart ODI against Sri Lanka, and many more such instances. But this was rather more exceptional than what was expected.

The team was badly tested, the last time they played in England.   This is an epic turnaround for the team which had not started the tournament as favorites. Before the tournament commenced, there were shows, discussions, debate and  talks all around that how the Indian batsman will react to short pitch bowling on a seaming and bouncy track.

They have actually struggled on bouncy tracks in the past but this time it was a completely different story.  Some may argue that the decks were flat, but the truth is that they were thoroughly tested by the opposition.

The fairy tale began against the mighty Africans minus (Sir) Steyn, the No. 1 Test side in the world who recently bowled out three world class sides under 100.  They were more cautious against Morne Morkel who is known to generate extra bounce on any sort of pitch.

But, as the game progressed they were very aggressive against the short pitch balls and were hammering them for fours.  Then came the West Indies with an attacking Roach, Pakistan with the 7 ft tall Irfan, Sri Lanka with ‘slinga’ Malinga and England with Anderson.  All of them tried and tried hard to exploit the vulnerability of the Indian batsmen against the short pitch bowling and the end result was unconvincing for them.  The moral obviously for them was that the ‘Grapes are Sour’.

The way the Men in Blue are approaching, calculating, attacking and playing Short deliveries is so exciting to see for a die-hard cricket fan who has often seen the Indian batting lineup rattled up against the short pitch bowling in the past.

The likes of fearless Dhawan, his upper cut sixes against the slinging pace of Malinga and accurate Broad is enough to justify the title of this Article.  WhileRohit has never had any issues with the ‘choti gend’ as we say here in India, Virat Kohli and MSD I believe don’t require any certificate.  Dinesh Kartik is a proper batsman and as per Dhoni’s view, he can control the middle order.

Talking about the most criticized Indian batsman for his technique against short pitch bowling, Suresh Raina – Well in my views despite all that criticism he is scoring quick runs whenever the team needs and he is an excellent fielder as well.  He is quite flexible, fields anywhere, bats anywhere and sometime bowls some crucial overs, as he did in the big finale, and that’s what the team needs.

Indian selectors have taken some gutsy decisions to leave the Senior pros out and give a new look to this team.  Nasser Hussain honored the Men in Blue in a post match presentation as the ‘Mighty Indian line up’.

With most of the top teams going through a transition, I think India is on the right path.  Well led as always by the captain, they are far ahead of everyone, at least, in the shorter versions of this exciting game.