India's journey to No.1

Finally, time has arrived for Team India. They have reached the helm of Test Cricket, since the introduction of ranking system by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2003.Since its inception, Australia and South Africa were the top contenders and now the competition has become stiffer due to likes of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. I reckon there are a few things that led to the build-up of a formidable Indian outfit.
Fairy-tale at the Eden Gardens
The test match between India and Australia held at the Eden Gardens is considered as one of the most exciting match in the history of Test Cricket. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman batted for almost 2 days to take India from the brink of an innings defeat to a peerless win in its history. That match helped Indians to believe that Australians are vulnerable and have weakness. From that match, Australia struggled to maintain their upper hand over Indians, or perhaps they have almost lost it.
The Sourav Ganguly factor
Team India had several inspiring captains, who are born-leaders, but lacked someone charismatic like ‘Dada’. He forged a young brigade, who went on to become the core of the current champion team India, lead by MS Dhoni, who is a refined form of Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly has infused the trait of playing hard and ruthless cricket that helped India to combat the Aussies more successfully than in the past.
Match-Winning pace bowlers
Team India has now a much of genuine quick bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Ishtant Sharma, RP Singh and Sreesanth, who have the ability to derail any batting order. The presence of these fast bowlers will make the opposition teams to think twice, when they prepare Green-top pitches against India.
Apart from these, India still has a formidable batting line-up led by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who is proving again and again his ability to destroy the opposition.

Though India’s reign at the helm of world test ranking would be truncated due to the less no of tests they play in the coming year, Team India’s road to the World Cup 2011 is perfect and if they don’t mess up, we would see MS. Dhoni lifting the ICC World Cup at the Whankade Stadium, Where  Cricketing demigod, Sachin Tendulkar started playing cricket.