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RESURGENT India last night stormed to their greatest victory on foreign soil, ensuring Australia’s quest for a record-breaking 17th straight Test win went up in smoke.

India also sent a strong message that Australia’s days of dominance are under threat after a stunning 72-run win in the third Test at the WACA Ground. Chasing 413 to win, the world champions were rolled for 340 to lose an enthralling contest inside four days.

The win sparked wild scenes of joy in the Indian camp, with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh – the 12th man for this Test – racing on to the ground waving his nation’s flag.

Surprise bowling weapon Virender Sehwag labelled the win as one of India’s greatest. “It’s a great match for us. It was a bouncy wicket and Australia had four fast bowlers,” he said.

In a drama-filled contest, there was an unexpected turn late in the day when Mitchell Johnson (50 not out) surged to his maiden Test half-century. With Stuart Clark (32 off 35 balls), they added 73 runs in 12.5 overs in a free-wheeling ninth-wicket stand.

This reduced the target to under three figures and had many starting to think the impossible was within reach, but Clark’s dismissal was soon followed by Shaun Tait’s (4).

There was to be no denying India, who, in a repeat of their miraculous Kolkata comeback win in 2001, terminated Australia’s long winning streak.

While Australia has an unbeatable 2-1 series lead and has retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the tourists can still force a drawn series if they prevail in Adelaide, beginning on Wednesday.

India began this match at the almost unbackable odds of $9, but boldly ignored history and reputation to forge their maiden Test victory in Perth.

It was Australia’s first loss on home soil since India prevailed in Adelaide four years ago.

Australia’s selectors were last night considering at least two changes for Adelaide, with Tait almost certain to be axed and spinner Brad Hogg recalled.

Opener Chris Rogers will also be dropped if Matthew Hayden has recovered from a hamstring strain.

Sehwag, the man India did not want in Melbourne and Sydney, became a surprise giant killer when his part-time off-spin claimed a dangerous Adam Gilchrist (15) and Brett Lee (0) in a match-winning spell just before tea.

There was an inspired spell of fast bowling from teenage beanpole Ishant Sharma and two contentious lbw decisions to set the tourists on their way to a famous victory.

Michael Clarke (81) was the Australian to offer greatest resistance, producing one of the more patient knocks of his career before he was stumped off Anil Kumble just after tea.

On a pitch offering turn and bounce, skipper Kumble’s gamble to introduce Sehwag was an inspired move.

In his first over he bowled Gilchrist around his legs and followed up next over when Lee squeezed a catch to VVS Laxman at silly mid-off.

Gilchrist heads to Adelaide with questions over his batting as he is averaging just 22.66 through six innings this series.

Ponting’s modest summer with the bat continued when Sharma found the edge which was accepted by Rahul Dravid at first slip.

Hussey was unlucky to be given out by umpire Rauf as the RP Singh delivery would have cleared the stumps, while Symonds was sent on his way despite a thick inside edge sending the ball into his pad off Kumble’s leg-spin.

1.       McGrath Vs Brandes
 In a showdown of best pacers of two countries, Brandes made up for his complete absence of batting skills by some displaying some great sense of humor and presence of mind.
 Aussie paceman Glenn McGrath was bowling to Zimbabwe number 11 Eddo Brandes – who was unable to get his bat anywhere near the ball. McGrath, frustrated that Brandes was still at the crease, wandered up during one particular over and inquired: ” Why are you so fat?”
 Quick as a flash, Brandes replied: “Because every time I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit .”Even the Aussie slip fielders were in hysterics.

2.       Merv Hughes and Viv Richards:
 Merv Hughes usually never short of a word while on the field, rarely keeps quite. During a test match in the West Indies Hughes didn’t say a word to Viv, but continued to stare at him after deliveries. ” This is my island, my culture. Don’t you be staring at me. In my culture we just bowl.” Merv didn’t reply, but after he dismissed him he announced to the batsman: ” In my culture we just say f*ck off.”

3.       McGrath to Ramnaresh Sarwan:
 Sarwan, the West Indies vice-captain, and McGrath went toe-to-toe in an ugly shouting match in Antigua in May 2003, The incident was sparked after Sarwan, on his way to a match-winning second-innings century, reportedly reacted to lurid taunts from McGrath by telling him he should get the answers from his wife, who was recovering from radiation therapy for secondary cancer. The details : 
 McGrath: “So what does Brian Lara’s d*ck taste like?”
 Sarwan: “I don’t know. Ask your wife. ”
 McGrath (losing it): “If you ever F*&king mention my wife again, I’ll F*cking rip your F*fing throat out.”

4.       Mark Waugh Vs Adam Parore
 Mark Waugh was standing at second slip, Adam Parore relatively new to cricket came to the crease played & missed the first ball.
 Mark Waugh- “Ohh, I remember you from a couple years ago in Australia. You were sh*t then, you’re fu*king useless now”.
 Parore- (Turning around) “Yeah, that’s me & when I was there you were going out with that old, ugly sl*t & now I hear you’ve married her. You dumb c*nt “.

5.       Merv Hughes Vs Cronje
 Merv Hughes was one of the greatest exponents of the fine “art” of sledging. Once during a tour game in South Africa Hughes was bowling to Hansie Cronje . It was an especially flat wicket and Cronje was hitting Hughes for fours and sixes all over the place.
 After the umpteenth boundary, Hughes headed down the pitch, stood near Cronje, let out a fart and said: “Try hitting that for six.” It was five minutes before the guffawing stopped and play could resume.

PCB chairman has promised that he will announce good news in the next 24 hours as a break through is expected anytime, PCB officials seem quite sure that they have convinced Australian chief about security issues and he is willing to send the Australian team to Pakistan, it should be noted here that in the event of cancelling the tour cricket Australia was facing a fine of US$ 2.3 mil. Pakistan’s case was lobbied by other member nations in the meeting held in Malaysia, a final decision will be announced on Tuesday.

The first hard news out – and it’s big news. India’s captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has been bought by the Chennai franchise for US$1.5 million. The other first picks: Adam Gilchrist has gone to Hyderabad for US$700,000, Muttiah Muralitharan to Chennai for US$600,000, Shane Warne to Jaipur for US$450,000 and Shoaib Akhtar to Kolkata for US$425,000. So Chennai has already spent US$2.1 million and grabbed two big names. It is unlikely that anyone will beat Dhoni’s figure but in these times anything is possible.

I think kolkata was a clear winner after the first round as they got shoaib pretty cheap, they still have a lot of salary cap in hand and they can go for some big names.

Hyderabad also got a good bargain as openers are a key in T20 they got a world class opener and a world class keeper its not that bad of a deal also he will be free to play and will have no further International commitment.

In the second round of bidding, Mumbai got active and bought Sanath Jayasuriya for $9,75,000 (his base price being $2,50,000) and Harbhajan Singh for $8,50,000 (his base price being $2,50,000). The other players who were picked in the second round of bidding were: Anil Kumble by Bangalore for $5,00,000 (base price: $2,50,000) and Kumar Sangakkara by Mohali for $7,00,000 (base price: $2,50,000).

Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Yousuf haven’t found any takers so far, so they have gone into the reserve pool and will be picked later.

Mumbai made huge mistake and spent a little under two mil for Jayasuriya and Harbhajan, Jayasuriya is not the same any more they have spent half of their salary cap on two average players. Mohali made a good pick they paid 0.7 mil for Sangakara which is not bad.

Andrew Symonds became the second-most expensive player in the IPL, as Hyderabad bought him for $1.35m (his base price being $2,50,000). The others picked in the third round of the bidding include: Brett Lee bought by Mohali for $9,00,000 (base price: $3,00,000), Brendan McCullum bought by Kolkata for $7,00,000 (base price: $1,75,000), Jacob Oram bought by Chennai for $6,75,000 (base price: $2,00,000), Daniel Vettori bought by Delhi for $6,25,000 (base price: $2,50,000).

Ricky Ponting and Mathew Hayden didn’t draw too much of money, their tour to Pakistan could have had something to do with it. Ponting waw bought by Kolkata for $4,00,000 and Hayden by Chennai for $3,75,000.

Like McGrath and Yousuf, Mike Hussey didn’t find any takers, and will be sent into the reserve pool.

A new chapter in international cricket’s history began when the auction of 77 cricketers completed in Hilton towers for a grand sum of $ 42 mil.

6 players became millionaires overnight:

1- Dhoni $1.5 mil India Cements (Chennai)

2- Andrew Symonds $1.35 mil Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad)

3- Sachin Tendulkar $ 1.121 mil Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance (Mumbai)

4-Saurav Ganguly $1.092 mil Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)

5- Yuvraj Singh $1.062 mil Preity Zinta (Mohali)

6- Rahul Dravid $1.035 mil Vijay Mallya’ UB Group (Bangalore)

The following players were in the $900,000 club:

1. Sanath Jayasuriya $975,000 Mukesh Ambani (Mumbai)
2. Ishant Sharma $950,000 Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)
3. Irfan Pathan $925,000 Priety Zinta (Mohali)
4. Jacques Kallis $900,000 Vijay Mallya (Bangalore)
5. Brett Lee $900,000 Priety Zinta (Mohali)

Shahrukh Khan was the biggest spender he spent $6,072,500 for 11 players.

India Cements (Chennai) spent $5,925,000 for 11 players.

Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad) spent $5,885,000 for 11 players.

The worst and the most overvalued picks were as follows:

1-Mohammad Kaif (US$675,000), Yusuf Pathan (US$475,000) both guys are not even in the national team in the same team Younis Khan (US$225,000), Kamran Akmal (US$150,000) is a complete highway robbery and is unfair to International players.

2-MS Dhoni (US$1.5 million) and Suresh Raina (US$650,000) both of them highly over valued, in the same team Matthew Hayden gets (US$375,000) what a farce, good luck attracting these players in future.

3- Harbhajan Singh (US$850,000), and Robin Uthappa (US$800,000), Uthaapa might get axed from the national team , Harbhjan although a good pick but still over valued. In the same team Lasith Malinga gets (US$350,000) ,Dilhara Fernando (US$150,000), Loots Bosman (US$175,000) again not fair.

4-Most pundits are suggesting that Jacques Kallis (US$900,000) is over value, yes a little bit but Kallis is one of the best batsman in the world and a very good bowler. So if Kaif can get $ 650,000 then kallis is worth every penny.

5-David Hussey (US$675,000), Ishant Sharma (US$950,000) I know Ishant is the new star but still he is not worth this much and why Ricky ponting gets paid less than David Hussey, Poor Umar Gul who was the leading wicket taker in T/20 was the victim he gets only (US$150,000).

These International players might not feel inclined to give their 100% the way they have been robbed in the auction. The future of IPL looks bleak as only four International players can play at a time they will never gell together as a team, the intensity will not be there, it will be the cricket version of WWF. Next year I can guarantee IPL will not be able to secure as many International players as it did this year.