When stars and alignments don146;t count, future146;s bright

For all this ability, though, the talk in the opposition camp has always centred around two players. The one-day game reduces Murali8217;s presence to ten overs but the man who has had the greatest influence on their cricket is Sanath Jayasuriya.

It was always on the cards that when this magnificent cricketer began his decline, Sri Lanka would hurt. He has been their talisman cricketer, brilliant with the bat and in the field and good enough to take 267 one-day wickets. With Jayasuriya firing and providing the momentum, the marginal cricketers came into their own.

Now the likes of Dilshan, Arnold, Chandana and Maharoof are without a leader to follow and till such time as Sangakkara becomes that cricketer, Sri Lanka will struggle. He will soon be the captain as well for Atapattu isn8217;t growing younger and often makes some bewildering decisions.

But one performance can change things as India showed with Tendulkar8217;s 93 at Nagpur. Thereafter the team has looked empowered and it is hugely encouraging that when the moment arrives, different players are putting their hands up. Pathan and Agarkar have taken wickets and Harbhajan has been India8217;s best bowler without taking too many. Tendulkar and Dravid have scored runs but so have Pathan, Dhoni and Raina at crucial moments.

Dhoni has probably been the most dramatic of all. I like the confidence that is never too far away from the surface of a small-town man. That is genuine empowerment because cricketers from smaller places have sometimes looked lost in Indian cricket. Even the aggressive Harbhajan went through a phase when he wasn8217;t sure he belonged but Dhoni seems to swagger out as if every ground is merely open space in Jharkhand.

I thought his remark that after his 148 against Pakistan an innings like this was expected of him is staggering. Nobody expects a player no more than a few matches old to have an impact like that. But Dhoni seems to believe in it and this is the kind of confidence that a coach and captain yearn for.

Dhoni is no slogger and to slot him thus will do injustice to his talent and bring ridicule to those that say it. Even in the course of that whirlwind 183, he realised that he needed to take his side home and not give it up by playing to the gallery.

I enjoyed the innings that followed as well. At Pune, India needed someone to stabilise the innings for it was clear that if wickets were kept the match would be won. Dhoni proceeded to defend, not in the most elegant style but with a sense of purpose. His first 32 balls produced 16 runs and once it became apparent that danger had passed the next 11 went for 29.

He is just the kind of floater India need and his success justifies the dismantling of the sanctity of batting numbers in Indian cricket. We have sometimes played rigid cricket but the modern one-day game is so fluid that permanent numbers can become a hindrance.

This dismantling also takes away the obsession with the individual in Indian cricket. Anybody should be able to come in and win a game and if that isn8217;t possible maybe the player isn8217;t good enough. I thought we saw that with Suresh Raina in Pune. 39 from 30 balls without a single reckless shot is just the kind of cricketer India needs.

He is 19 but watching him I could have sworn he had played 50 games. They grow up quickly these days.

All this means that there is just a bit of pressure on Yuvraj and his promotion to number three was an excellent move for it told him that he could get an opportunity to perform as well.

Away playing a Duleep Trophy match, Kaif will begin to wonder where he fits in too. If this competition is channelised, for otherwise it will lead to selfish performances, India has some bright days ahead.

We must remember, though, that these performances are coming on flat, batting pitches; the kind that cause groundsmen, like the one at Jaipur, to say that one-day cricket is all about batting. That must be a poor joke. All cricket is about competition between bat and ball and when you dilute one of those two, you dilute the other as well.

So what next? A couple of delightful hundreds from Sourav Ganguly would make it a really pleasant problem for the selectors.