Brilliant individual efforts, more often than not, have dominated Indian cricket over the years. But when you cast your eye over a glorious fortnight, a palpable deviation from the set path can be identified. India's series win over England at the latter's backyard was based on magnificent collective effort.

It was much like attending an orchestra where all performers reac-hed the zone to produce sublime music. Under lead conductor Rahul Dravid, the team survived alien conditions and an adamant opposition to script one more golden chapter to the annals of Indian cricket.

Dhoni sets tone
When it needed someone to play a patient knock in the second innings of the first Test at Lord's, Mahendra Singh Dhoni responded admirably, staving off certain defeat. It was an innings totally out of character from a born stroke-maker.

India's victory in the second Test in Trent Bridge was another example of teamwork. There were two ripping inswingers from Rudra Pratap Singh, delivered from round the wicket, to snare Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior. Then, there was that century opening partnership between Dinesh Kaarthick and Wasim Jaffer in the first innings which provided India the platform to build a substantial lead.

Zaheer’s five
Zaheer Khan's five-wicket haul ensured that India would chase only a sub-hundred total in the fourth innings.
The third Test at The Oval, which ended in a draw, might appear a dull conclusion to many. But the final Test too provided an example of combined effort, with everybody putting their hand up at vital situations. There were no big hundreds or those typical bright patches of isolated luminosity. Instead, it was one mighty collective venture that put the match far beyond the grasp of England. That the Indian first innings contained eight fifty partnerships, including one over hundred, manifested that fact.

India's second innings belonged to Sourav Ganguly. The Kolkatan had, on a couple of occasions, come close to playing a major knock, but misfortune in the shape of poor umpiring decisions cut his stay shot. Ganguly chose the perfect opportunity to reel out a big innings.

His knock of 57 carried far more significance than the digits suggest as it helped India recover from a precarious 11 for three. Work still had to be done when Ganguly and then Dravid -- his laborious 96-ball 12 ensured India did not lose a wicket at that stage -- got out. VVS Laxman and Dhoni performed that task admirably sharing a fifty-run partnership for the sixth wicket.     
       
‘Excruciating’
“It must have been excruciating for you to watch me bat. You can imagine how excruciating it would have been for me to play that knock. Suddenly, it’s 11 for three and you have lots of thoughts running in your mind. Just one of those days, it just didn't seem to be flowing for me.

“Sometimes, I can get a bit bloody-minded, and not give it away, I can get caught up in that. That's worked a lot for me in my career, and sometimes it doesn't. But at stage, we needed a partnership. Sourav was scoring pretty freely, so if you look at the partnership it set a base to allow Laxman and Dhoni to give us the score we wanted. When you're 11 for three, you have to reassess. It's important to know that you are one-up in the series. Our job when we came here was to win the series, and we have achieved that," he said.

Seniors hailed
The Indian skipper also hailed the other senior pros for their role. “They've all taken on huge leadership roles in their performances, in their mentoring. Obviously, we realised we have to work together. At various stages, they gave me a lot of suggestions and ideas, and they've really helped a lot."

Dravid, however, did not miss the point when he termed teamwork as the cornerstone of India's win. “This is what Indian cricket needs. We need contributions from everyone, we need different heroes. That's the great thing about this series.”