A Bridge Too Far

Or, to be even more harsh, professional against not-so-professional. Because the Australians, like Schumacher at Imola or Henry anticipating a Vieira through-ball, timed their run to perfection. As at the last World Cup (and, indeed, the one before that), they began indifferently but always, always, kept their sights on their destination.

In his columns in this paper, coach John Buchanan frequently refers to how his team takes things one stage at a time, but with an ultimate goal in mind. That’s what they did here; first made sure they entered the finals, then made sure they won it. And mid-course blips, as at Brisbane, are corrected with frightening speed and accuracy.

India, by contrast, seemed to have lost interest, or energy, or both, over the past fortnight.

To his credit, Ganguly did not hide today behind the fatigue factor but it surely played a role. As did the upcoming tour of Pakistan, which is rapidly becoming a controversial issue.

While India can, and should, celebrate a tour that was an unprecedented, surprise success, the team should introspect, before they switch off, on why they cannot beat Australia when it matters. Four straight defeats in final matches is no coincidence, nor bad luck, nor even poor umpiring; it shows a fatal flaw in mental make-up that the Australians have spotted and saved in the memory of whatever computer programmes their play.

Everyone remembers — in vivid detail, century by century, wicket by wicket — how we retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It would be a pity if we forget how we lost the VB Series Trophy.