The men in blue signed off a remarkable series by defeating reigning champions Australia by 172 runs in Nagpur on Monday to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008.

Team India will remember this series for more reasons than just winning it, as the tournament saw two of its veteran greats retire. Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly leave a trail of besotted fans behind them as they bid goodbye to the world of Test cricket.

Excellent bowling came to the rescue of Sourav Ganguly, who was captaining the final Test and ensured that his last series was sealed with a win.

Set the daunting task of scoring an imposing 382 to win, Australia were tottering at 111 for three wickets at lunch on the fifth and final day.

The batsmen out in the visitors' second innings, after they had commenced at the overnight 13 for no loss, were first innings centurion Simon Katich (16), captain Ricky Ponting (8) and his deputy Michael Clarke (22), promoted up the order in quest for quick runs despite being unwell.

Ishant Sharma, India's most successful bowler of the four-Test rubber, was easily the pick of the attack on Monday morning and accounted for Katich and Clarke, while Ponting was run out through a brilliant piece of fielding and throwing by Amit Mishra.

The home team should have ended the session with more Australian wickets in their clutch but for a few dropped catches and a few edges that eluded the slip cordon.

Australia needed to make 271 more runs on a wearing track where the ball was spinning sharply with two left-handers - opener Matthew Hayden (46 off 67 balls with four fours) and Michael Hussey (14 off 20 balls) - at the crease.

India would have been placed in an even more happy position had they taken their catches.

Rahul Dravid, normally a superb fielder at slip, floored Ponting on zero off Zaheer and MS Dhoni let off Hayden when he tried to cut Harbhajan Singh when on 30.

The miss off Ponting did not prove costly as the visiting team skipper was run out soon afterwards, but Hayden who was dropped by Dravid later when he reverse-swept the Indian off-spinner five runs later remained unbeaten at lunch.

Katich, who made 102 in the first innings, once pulled Sharma from wide of the off stump for a boundary and fell while trying to repeat the same shot by top-edging the attempt. The ball ballooned high for Dhoni to take the swirling ball with some difficulty.

Ponting was lucky to edge Zaheer on arrival and survive with Dravid dropping the regulation catch, but tried to take on Mishra fielding at mid-off by attempting a cheeky single only to see the fielder attack the ball and run him out with a direct throw at the non-striker's end.

Australia, 29 for no loss, slid to 37 for two in nine balls.

Clarke, up the order but batting with Katich as his runner, should have been sent back by Sharma who rapped him on the pads with a late in-swerving ball, but umpire Billy Bowden did not uphold the strong appeal for leg before.

In between, Hayden was dropped by Dhoni and it looked as if things were going the Australian way when Sharma got his revenge by dismissing Clarke.

The gangling Delhi bowler, who bowled with a lot of pace in the first innings too in his long spells, got the visiting team's vice captain with a superb, out-swinger which was feathered by the batsman to 'keeper Dhoni.

Clarke and Hayden added 45 runs off only 54 balls before the dismissal.

Hayden then reverse-swept Harbhajan twice, the first one being a clean strike for four and off the second Dravid got his hand to the ball but could not latch on to it. Hayden and Hussey later piloted the visitors past 100 before the break.

India trounce invincible Oz to nail series

Gambhir banned .Why not Watson?

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson have been charged for violating the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Code of Conduct during their on-field spat on the first day of the third Test match at the Ferozeshah Kotla.
A couple of times during the first day's play, on Wednesday, Gambhir had run-ins with medium pacer Watson and spinner Simon Katich. The first incident happened with Watson after the Australian hurled some abuses at the batsmen and while taking a run Gambhir's stuck out his elbow that hit Watson, who seemed to have taken serious offence.
Gambhir has been charged under clause C1 Level 2 of the code which states that players "shall at all times conduct play within the spirit of the game as well as within the Laws of Cricket".
Watson has been charged under the same clause, C1, but as a Level 1 offence.
The charges were laid by on-field umpires Billy Bowden and Aleem Dar and third umpire Suresh Shastri. Match Referee Chris Broad will hear it after the second day's play Thursday.
Level 2 penalties range from a fine of between 50 percent of the player's match fee up to 100 percent or a ban of one Test or two ODIs. Level 1 penalties range from an official reprimand and/or a fine of up to 50 percent of the player's match fee.
The second incident happened with Katich, when the bowler came in Gambhir's way to deny him a single. Gambhir looked furious and a heated exchange of words took place and umpire Billy Bowden had to step in to separate them.India's Gautam Gambhir may still play the fourth and final Test in Nagpur after the International Cricket Council said that pending a hearing into the opener's appeal against the one-Test ban, he could continue playing under Code of Conduct regulations.
The ICC said is a statement that its Legal Counsel will appoint a Code of Conduct Commissioner within 48 hours and that the appeal will be heard within seven days of the Commissioner's appointment.
The final Test against Australia starts in Nagpur from November 6 and if a decision doesn't arrive by then, Gambhir would be eligible to play in that match.
The India opener pleaded guilty to the charge levied against him for elbowing Australian bowler Shane Watson while attempting a run on the first day of the third Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground and was handed a one-Test ban by match referee Chris Broad.
However, if the left-hander fails to overturn the match referee's verdict, he will have to bear the cost of the appeal.

Gilchrist told Sachin: "Bad Sport"

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has attempted to defuse the tension between the Indian and Australian cricket teams over the reported remarks by the former stumper Adam Gilchrist, by stating that the retired player had called him on the phone to clarify his position. Tendulkar was quoted by a television channel as stating that Gilchrist had called him to clarify that remarks attributed to be a part of his autobiography "True Colors" were taken out of context and reported. "Gilchrist called me up and clarifed the whole matter," Sachin told Times Now Television from Pune while reiterating that his comments were taken out of proportion. The Australian stumper, who questioned Sachin's role in the Monkeygate scam involving Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh, came out with a clarification last evening after angry remarks from the cricket establishment in India. Gilchrist said that he would come out with a statement clarifying his position on the matter that incidentally was pooh-poohed away by members of the touring Aussie team in India with Shane Watson telling CNN-IBN that the former stumper's views were his own and had no bearing on the ongoing tour or cricketing relations between the two teams.
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Sachin is Sachin

The family man beneath the champion cricketer came to the fore again and Sachin Tendulkar said he missed his deceased father after eclipsing Brian Lara's world record for most runs in Test cricket's history.
Once he reached the mark, Tendulkar took off his helmet and looked upwards, as if muttering a silent prayer.
"When I looked up, I had two thoughts in my mind. First I thanked the almighty for all he has given to me. Then I thanked my father. Today I miss him. Definitely he would have been a proud man today," Tendulkar said.
On this momentous occasion, none of his family members was around and the batting great explained, his family members don't believe in public display of emotions.
"I don't play for records and it's not that everyone has to be around. We'll celebrate. They all value this, they all must be extremely happy for me, I know. But it's not my family style to go over the top. As long as I know their feeling, it's important and I know that everyone must be extremely happy for me." Asked how his son would celebrate the feat, Tendulkar said, "Well, I'm not sure because he always surprises me." Tendulkar said today's historic feat was one of the proudest moments of his career.
"Of course it is. I mean whenever the team wins or does well, it's a fantastic feeling. Of course there was some excitement in mind but I had a big task ahead. It was an important knock for when I went into bat, we had lost three wickets in no time. It was important to get a partnership," Tendulkar said, of his 142-run stand with Sourav Ganguly.
It has finally happened. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has surpassed Brian Lara as the leading run-getter in Test cricket history.
It was almost destined that Tendulkar achieved the feat against his favourite opposition - Australia - against who he has amassed 9 Test centuries and over 2000 runs.
Tendulkar has become the 10th batsman in Test match history to hold the world record. Here is the list:-
Batsman Final Tally Record set Record held for C Hill (Australia) 3412 July 1902 22y-4m

JB Hobbs (England) 5410 Dec 1924 12y-6m

WR Hammond (England) 7249 June 1937 33y-5m

MC Cowdrey (England) 7624 Nov 1970 1y-4m

GS Sobers (West Indies) 8032 Mar 1972 9y-9m

G Boycott (England) 8114 Dec 1981 1y-11m

SM Gavaskar (India) 10112 Nov 1983 9y-3m

A Border (Australia) 11174 Feb 1993 12y-9m

BC Lara (West Indies) 11953 Nov 2005 2y-11m

SR Tendulkar (India) ????? Oct 2008

Allan Border held the record for the most number of years (in recen times). How long would Tendulkar hold on to it? Only time will tell.
Interestingly, when on 23 runs (on Monday) Sachin Tendulkar became the highest run scorer for a single team. Brian Lara has scored 11912 runs for West Indies alone. It may be recalled that Lara scored 5 & 36 for the World XI vs Australia in the Super Test. Tendulkar however was not part of the World XI side for the Super Test.It's been a fantastic journey: Sachin Tendulkar

With special inputs from PTI-Mohali