With Pakistan's victory over South Africa, Bangladesh anticipating a first Test win against New Zealand and India's superb run chase at Jaipur, there are lots of reasons to be cheerful for Asian cricket fans at the moment.
However, Indian fans being Indian fans, you'd be forgiven for thinking that their side had just been mauled by a Mauritius XI rather than a determined Aussie side showing more defiance than they have sometimes done in recent years. True, it has been a high-scoring series so far, the Aussies reaching 300 in each of the three matches. Their stand-in skipper George Bailey has plundered 200 runs already, but Virat Kohli has gone 29 better and, with Rohit Sharma's unbeaten 141 and Shikhar Dhawan's 95 in Jaipur, alongside MS Dhoni's wonderful century yesterday, there's not a lot wrong with the home side's batting line-up.
Indeed, had it not been for James Faulkner's 48th over blitz, India would surely have won the match and we would all have been raving about Dhoni's brutal late-innings hitting, Jadeja's mean bowling and Bhuv Kumar's steady seamers. Nevertheless, Ishant Sharma's failure to restrain Faulkner's do-or-die six-fest ultimately cost his side the match. His skipper's admission that death bowling is a bit of a problem at the moment definitely rings true. With all their one-day and T20 cricket, India can hardly blame lack of experience. Sharma has 68 ODIs under his belt, and Vinay Kumar has 29, and Dhoni has skippered the side in 145 games.
On paper, it was always going to be a series decided by the contest between Indian bowlers and Aussie batsmen rather than the other way around. We already knew about the class of Kohli et al as well as Johnson, McKay and their colleagues. However, after three games, Bailey's consistency and that fierce Faulkner finale have made the difference. It's still only 2-1 and there are four fixtures remaining. It could be a classic confrontation, and all is not lost for the world champs.
