A fantastic triumph places Team India on a pedestal again. Not only the second ranking in Tests but also the future is India's, according to experts. There is never more of exhilaration than when the underdog downs the champion and that is exactly what Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men did.

For years India have been the best performers against the best side, but without quite breaking the barrier as on this occasion when Australia's stranglehold on world cricket is apparently at its most vulnerable. Twice the marauding Aussies won 16 Tests in a row and twice India stopped the Juggernaut. But only now does victory seem definitive.

How good is India? On the Test circuit, they are certainly a combination to be feared even if they don't travel well, at least not to Sri Lanka, which is quite the lion's den. They are yet to conquer the final frontier, which for India is Australia, although Kapil's team came perilously close in 1986.

There is a balance to the attack now, with two leading pacers being reverse swing artists of the first order. The young spinner Amit Mishra seems qualified to step into Kumble's big shoes, even if he is not nippy enough off the pitch to be a weapon on true surfaces. The Sardar of spin, Harbhajan, is a wily old pro who is now capable of taking on the role of lead spinner.

In Ishant Sharma, proud winner of the luxury sedan that might do well on Delhi roads, India has a bowler of such luminous talent that he can be one of the top performers in world cricket. He has already helped India win a Test in Perth, which is the equivalent of an ambassdor presenting his credentials to a head of state.

Thanks to a change of mindset brought about by the brilliance of Kapil Dev and the creation of scientific infrastructure by Dennis Lillee, a tradition of fast bowling has evolved in the country. There are other young fast bowlers equally capable of stepping up when asked as we saw in the Indian junior ranks.

There should be a seamless transition in the batting post-Ganguly.

Apart from Yuvraj Singh being a batsman who needs just some confidence and consistent backing to retune himself to Test demands, we have Gambhir who has come on so immensely in the course of the series that all thoughts of going back to Wasim Jaffer have faded.

M. Vijay, dapper batsman and dashing fielder, looks a player readymade for big cricket, which means there should be no worry at the top of the order with the first three slots taken. Rohit Sharma and Subramaniam Badrinath wait in the wings and a lot of good things can be said of the young batsmen who featured in the youth World Cup win.

The bowling can cope with all playing conditions. As an aside, it must be said here that it would look pathetic if Dhoni were to replicate his 8-1 tactics in order to steal an advantage anywhere in the world, even if the law book allows it. What's the point in being one of the best sides if you become responsible for Test cricket being killed along the way?

Dhoni is the most natural of captains who prefers the battlefield to the situation room. He cannot, however, bring some of the credo of street cricket into Test cricket that is already running quickly into dwindling interest. The book of laws is there but the spirit of the game is somewhat more vital.

Two great players have left the team and others might follow suit soon enough. Even so, it is possible to believe that good days lie ahead.

Such optimism does not generally flow in countries that tend to lose their finest players of a generation almost simultaneously, as it happened to Australia with Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath. That optimism exists at all in India is a testament to the reserve talent.

Will India make it to the top rank soon? The team has been here before sliding. What lends the scenario a sanguine look now is this team has an inspirational captain, which might just mean that it is ready to get going to achieve what Ganguly's team did in the first part of the decade. Team India is ready for more conquests.