One-day wonders

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men copped plenty of heat over their 0-4 Test series loss to England in August

One-day wonders

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men copped plenty of heat over their 0-4 Test series loss to England in August.

And to be fair to them, they took the blows without ducking not one of the players gave the impression of looking for excuses.

Their performance in the one-day series in England was encouraging, although the hosts walked away with the honours (3-0).

Thumping wins can do great things for the mindset of sportspersons, and though England came into the one-day series with no one-day series win in India in the last 25 years to boast about, they were high on the confidence factor. Yet they fell like a pack of cards in every encounter.

It shouldn't be forgotten that India (without the services of the rested Dhoni) beat New Zealand 5-0 in a five-match series last season.

So this was India's second whitewash in a series at home. If this doesn't give a good name to consistency, nothing will.

According to reports, team members left for their homes to celebrate Diwali with their loved ones before returning to Kolkata for a one-off Twenty20 international.

Nothing can take away from the fact that India played some dumb cricket in England during the Test series. At the same time, nothing should dim their brilliance in the one-day series.
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Dhoni was brilliant in leading from the front and Virat Kohli has provided enough indication that he could be the best young limited overs batsman in world cricket today. His T20 prowess is amazing too.

Overall, India's cricket looked much sharper and bubbly in the one-day series. And that could be put down to young, energetic legs.
u00a0
And to beat England without the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan only lends more glitter to their World Champions tag.