We are witnessing the start of India’s dynasty

Youthful swagger and strength in depth that stormed the Gabba may see victors dominate for years

Out on the cricket field, India are showing the talent and attitude to run off with the game for a generation

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‘Among all forms of human activity, cricket is the one area where we actually can be the best.” So wrote the Indian author and journalist Sandipan Deb in 2006. This week, his prophecy has been fulfilled.

India have ticked off many fine achievements since Deb’s essay was published. Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, they won the World T20 and the 50-over World Cup, as well as topping the Test rankings. But have they done anything to

Headline news: How India’s stunning win was reported by the Australian press match Tuesday’s breathless victory at the Gabba? This felt like a turning point. Like the moment in May 1995 when Steve Waugh took 200 off the West Indian attack, and all but goaded Curtly Ambrose into a fist-fight in the middle of the pitch.

In Jamaica that day, Waugh snatched cricket’s crown from West Indies. Australia have held it – on and off – for much of the past quarter-century.

To battle-scarred English fans, their reign has felt at once frustrating and perversely reassuring, justifying our obsession with the Ashes above all else.

But that time might be fading. The rise of Asia extends beyond the stock market and the United Nations assembly. On the cricket field, India are showing the talent and the attitude to run off with the game for a generation.

Before going any further, we should revisit the ingredients of this classic Test. For a start, India had arrived in Brisbane with only four first-choice players. Captain Virat Kohli is on paternity leave, spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is stuck in a spinal corset, and two other key bowlers are still in plaster courtesy of the Aussie quicks.

And then there was the venue. The so-called “Gabbatoir” occupies a unique place in the Australian cricket psyche. It is their answer to Helm’s Deep in the Lord of the Rings saga: the fortress that “has never fallen to assault”.

During the previous Test in Sydney, their captain Tim Paine had even sledged Ravi Ashwin – India’s leading spinner – with the words: “I can’t wait to get you to the Gabba.” After the win, Ashwin’s wife Prithi responded with a perfectly flighted tweet: “SEE YOU AT THE GABBA MATE”.

So for India to chase down 328 in these circumstances, almost a hundred more than the previous Gabba record, was a Halley’s Comet moment. Far more so than their last series win Down Under, in the wake of “sandpaper-gate”, when the Aussies lacked Steve Smith and seemed more focused on Ps and Qs than runs and wickets.

Is this it? Is this the day when the sheer demographic weight of India lands like a meteor on Planet Cricket, wiping out the dinosaurs of the Anglosphere? Could we be witnessing the start of a dynasty?

It feels like time. Despite their stupendous home record, India have never had a truly world-beating Test team. Not like West Indies under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards. Or the Australians under Mark Taylor and Waugh.

Once they start dominating, you wonder if they will ever stop. With their passion and their population, India’s maniacal cricket culture has the potential to outperform the rest of the world, in an echo of New Zealand’s rugby prowess.

So what were the hallmarks of previous champion teams? The first was depth.

During the 1980s, West Indies exported stacks of high-class fast-bowling rejects to county cricket. Ten years later, Australia did the same with her batsmen. Supremely gifted players like Greg Blewett and Stuart Law used to ambush touring teams in the guise of Australia A. Just like India A ambushed their hosts in Brisbane this week.

Second, you need some kind of game plan, or philosophy. Great sides do not puzzle their way to victory, but follow a well-trodden route. The West Indian motto, muttered by their nasty fasties, can be summarised as: “If you want to drive, get a car.” Their pace bombardment broke the spirits – and often the bones – of most challengers, while their slow over-rate stopped the exceptions from getting away.

An Australian motto is harder to identify. We could cite Rod Marsh’s dictum that: “English bowlers are all pie-chuckers” – except that this sweeping judgment extended far beyond the Poms. Waugh’s team showed scant respect to any opposition attack (unless it featured mystery spinners on a dusty subcontinental pitch). As Matthew Hayden crunched boundaries in all directions, Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne looked on like vultures waiting to feast.

So what of these Indians? Perhaps they have not found their best and simplest formula yet. But judging by the way they played the final overs on Tuesday, their catchphrase might be: “Look mum, no hands!”

There is an insouciance about the younger players, a sassiness, that came through in Washington Sundar’s frenetic innings. Having already hooked Pat Cummins for six, Sundar (left) ignored his batting partner’s instruction to take an easy single. He was bowled while reverse-sweeping, with only 10 runs still to get.

He and many of his colleagues – think Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur – were forged amid the hype and hokum of the Indian Premier League.

Apart from giving dozens of young Indian wannabes the chance to learn from the world’s best, the IPL has a toughening effect. Pressure, for those who grew up representing the Delhi Capitals, is something you live with every day. If you can’t ramp, reverse-sweep and improvise like a carefree kid batting on the Maidan, you’re a goner.

That ambition carries the danger of over-exuberance. But with a few steadying older heads – including that human limpet Cheteshwar Pujara – India are well placed to go on a tear. If we are unlucky, they might even start with Joe Root’s England in just a couple of weeks.

Let’s finish with another quote. In his 1989 book The Tao of Cricket, sociologist Ashis Nandy wrote: “Cricket is an Indian game accidentally discovered by the English.” Today, its spiritual owners want their ball back.