DRAVID

In some beautiful coincidence, up above them on the dressing-room wall rested white boards on which were inscribed the names of famous travelers to this ground who had made centuries or taken five wickets. Their names have not been written there yet but, as they looked up, it appeared they could already see them. Men do not make history every day.

Dravid said little then, as if relief and satisfaction had clogged his throat. It didn8217;t matter, some others had already said it for him. 8216;8216;When he plays well, India plays well. He8217;s a great, great, player8217;8217;, said John Wright. Steve Waugh was brief: 8216;8216;Outstanding concentration and magnificent technique8217;8217;.

Sourav Ganguly kept it simple: 8216;8216;He batted like a God.8217;8217;

Two hours later, Dravid was sitting in Sachin Tendulkar8217;s room, some of the emotion of the day washing away. Did he cry? He laughs, 8216;8216;I8217;m not that emotional8217;8217;. But don8217;t be fooled, this is a man whose passion runs understated but strong, whose desire is advertised with every ball extra he stays on the field to play.

For 594 minutes he batted for his 233, yet he says he awoke this morning not believing he had 8216;8216;done his bit8217;8217;, that there was 8216;8216;a lot to do8217;8217;. It is the way of this team. He arrived at India 48/1 and he left when India was 233/6, a square-driven four from his bat fittingly finishing it all. Right through his innings of 72, he appeared to exude defiance, suggesting this warrior was not returning home without victory. His sweat, everyone8217;s sweat, would not be for nothing.

8216;8216;I8217;ve been playing for seven years8217;8217;, he said later, 8216;8216;and we8217;ve lost a lot of games, and I was just fed up, and during many periods on Tuesday I kept telling myself I didn8217;t want to go through that again8217;8217;.

But no one man, he interrupts sternly, designs victory by himself, and to forget Sehwag quick runs, great catches, Patel key first innings runs, Tendulkar vital 37 on Tuesday, Ganguly powerful leadership, Kumble five wickets, first innings, Laxman 148, Agarkar 6-41, second innings, Pathan Hayden8217;s executioner,Nehra Martyn and Waugh, first innings, Chopra two fine starts, and Wright, and the support crew, is to do this team a terrible disservice. Indeed, they only win because they are a team.

In Laxman8217;s simple admission that 8216;8216;everyone is always ready to help each other8217;8217; lies the seed to this team8217;s ability to grow and
become only the side to win after the opposition has scored over 500 in the first innings.

Wright would say his team8217;s journey to where it is has taken 8216;8216;a lot of belief8217;8217;, and perhaps he meant not just in themselves but in each other, in the crucial understanding that in a land that worships individualism only unity could ensure triumph. One small moment on Monday, when fielders walked up to a disconsolate Parthiv Patel after his missed stumping of Adam Gilchrist, to squeeze his shoulder, to pat his back, told the tale sufficiently.

We will never know every reason for this team8217;s maturity, and that is fitting for there must be some element of mystery to the process. But that captain approaching the interview tent after the game, his smile so wonderfully incandescent that it lit up the evening, well, without him it would not have been possible. This is not just India, it is Sourav Ganguly8217;s India.

He had led here with conviction, in Brisbane from the front. He is a cooler, hardier and cannier customer than his glasses-on professorial air suggests. Laxman, asked what he liked about his captain, said 8216;8216;encouragement8217;8217; and 8216;8216;aggression8217;8217;, and to build this team, to meet Australia head on, required a man of such resolve.

No one thought this victory possible, it has seized everyone by surprise. On Tuesday, as Ganguly listened in on Dravid8217;s press conference, I asked: 8216;8216;Are you surprised?8217;8217;

8216;8216;No8217;8217;, he said, 8216;8216;I believe in this team8217;8217;. Perhaps India does too.

This team has flaws, this series has also just warmed up. But this was not a day to consider future defeat but to find pleasure in a victorious present.

Perhaps dusk would have descended when Laxman and Dravid and Agarkar walked out of their dressing room.

Perhaps all they met was empty seats and loitering seagulls, even the echoes of the applause they earned having died.

But one reminder of their team8217;s deed still stood by silently. For in the distant corner history was still written on the scoreboard.