2009: Year of Indian Cricket's ascent to Test pinnacle

The IPL gold-rush drew players in droves and the cult of Sachin Tendulkar completed two illustrious decades but 2009 will be fondly recalled as the year of India's ascent to the pinnacle of Test cricket, a format that ironically languishes at the bottom of their pecking order.

The 2007 World Twenty20 champions could not defend their title in England, came a cropper in the Champions Trophy ?" second most elite one-day tournament after World Cup ?" and also allowed the opportunity to become the number one ODI team slip through their fingers with the home series defeat against an under-strength Australia.

It was rather an irony that Test cricket provided them their finest moments despite the cricket board's criminal negligence of the format which is on its last leg.

So engrossed in IPL proliferation, BCCI has scheduled just two Tests in the next 11 months for the team, which is just not enough to protect the number one Test team's status.

Subsequently some sanity prevailed and BCCI apparently has convinced South Africa to play two unscheduled Test matches when the Proteas visit the country in February-March.

If the 2-0 win against Sri Lanka put them on top of the world, Dhoni and his teammates can look back on the 1-0 away series win over New Zealand in April with considerable pride since it was India's first series win there in more than four decades.

India's rise as the number one Test team was not particularly well-received in certain quarters with the British press trying to find fault with the ICC ranking system but the common fan on the street was euphoric as Dhoni, inheritor of the proud legacy of his predecessors Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, shepherded the team to an unprecedented high.

In one dayers, the team under Dhoni bearded the Lanka lion in its den, thumped the Kiwis in New Zealand and upended West Indies in the Caribbeans for their fifth series win on the trot.

They won the blinked-and-you-miss Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka as well but cut a sorry figure in the Champions Trophy in South Africa, managing just one win in the tournament.

The home series against a second-string Australian side presented with the gilt-edged opportunity to become the number one ODI team but the Men In Blue tamely surrendered to allow Ricky Ponting return with the bragging right.

Even more frustrating was their tame title defence in the World Twenty20 Championship in England where they beat minnows Bangladesh and Ireland before crashing out with three defeats on the trot. The IPL allure, however, showed no signs of waning.

The second edition of the cash-awash league seemed doomed after it coincided with general election and the government expressed its inability to provide adequate security.

Few believed Lalit Modi when he talked about shifting the show to South Africa and to his credit, IPL-II turned out to be massive success even in its adopted home.