These days I don't follow cricket with the religiosity of olden days. Still, when I got up yesterday to the sounds of the unmistakable shouts of cricket buffs in the building, I realised that the India-New Zealand match was on and hurried to settle down before the TV. It was a wise decision as the Sachin-Yuvaraj partnership was just beginning to take off and I was treated to some extraordinary exhibition of batting. Obviously, the morning plans got rearranged and I managed to watch the match till the end. The true bonus was the century from Sachin (who being from our generation - kind of - is still the primary idol).

Two moments stuck in my mind after the euphoria had ebbed and replaced by a happy glow. The first one was the end point of the easy nonchalance of Yuvaraj's innings. He was going great guns, overshadowing Sachin and nothing seemed impossible. Then he got out caught behind, and walked without as much as a single glance towards anyone. The wicket keeper was standing up and the umpire could have had his doubts. But such was the flow of Yuvaraj that he had no hesitation in doing the right thing. That is the essence of a man in 'the zone.' Reminded me of the Kipling poem, 'If''.

The second moment came when Dhoni was batting. His energy, enthusiasm and the busy manner immediately changed the mood of batting from languid grace to frenetic urgency. At one point, he played a great shot where the ball went sailing over the mid-wicket in to the stands. It's my guess that the coaches in cricket stress the importance of a proper follow through (as we were taught while learning firearms handling and marksmanship in our basic police training). However, here was a picture of Dhoni frozen, looking at the place where the bat had met the ball and happy at the flawless process than looking up at the ball's trajectory and worrying about the result.

To me, these two moments are what is so special about today's Indian team and the young India as well. We can look forward to great things if we enhance and maintain our process focus.

On another note on the new India, Vir Sanghvi's article in the Hindustan Times, titled 'The Same People? Surely Not' was a refreshing perspective on the divergent paths taken by India and Pakistan after 1947. The older people are always prone to the secret hope of returning to 'the good old days'. It never happens and is a dangerous pitfall in the thought process. The past can be a good guide to understand the changes around us, but not as a model for shaping the future.