The way the Indian youngsters fought against the ruthless Aussies in this series, until its very final session of play yesterday, was so impressive that any Sri Lankan who watched it would have compared them to the present bunch of national cricketers in Sri Lanka, and offered the hotly-contested East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port to India on a platter without any hesitation! Seven rookies in India Seven of the eleven-member India team were newcomers. Those were their 21-year-old opening batsman Shubman Gill who played his third Test ever, the 23-year-old wicketkeeper-bat Rishab Pant, the 21-year-old all-rounder Washington Sundar, who made his debut in this Test, their other bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur (29), who played only his second Test, the 28-year-old pacie Navdeep Saini who also played only his second Test, the 26-year-old Mohammed Siraj, who opened bowling for India in Brisbane in his third Test, and the other opening fast-bowler Thangarasu Natarajan (29), who also debuted in Brisbane. Yet they were fighting for every inch towards victory in an evenly-contested epic series, which was easily one of the best ever in the long history of Test cricket. Until the last moment Almost all leading seniors were out on injuries for India in this fourth Test, and their skipper Virat Kohli was on paternity leave after the first Test. India lost the first Test in Adelaide and won a famous victory at Melbourne in the second. They showed tremendous temperament to salvage a draw in the third at Sydney, and they came to Brisbane with the series still undecided. The fourth and final match thus began with the series squared at 1-1. The advantage of the match swung both ways through five days of enthralling cricket until it reached the last few minutes and the last three overs of the last session of last day’s play yesterday. Fought till the end India were to chase 324 runs (they were 4/0 overnight) on the final day on a crumbling Gabba pitch with the pace trio of Mitchell Satrc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins firing on all cylinders – they had left the veteran Indian opener Cheteshwar Pujara badly bruised by at least ten staggering blows on his body yesterday. The main Aus spinner Nathan Lyon was as sharp as ever on a supportive track. Yet India was not to be intimidated. Their youngsters focused on the target, took calculated risks, maintained the sizeable required run-rate, and by noon Indian Standard Time (IST) yesterday, won one of the most memorable Test series ever. What a contrast! As the Indians celebrated in Gabba their 2-1 win on what is known as the most hostile place to play Test cricket – Australia – Sri Lanka was suffering defeat at home against England. League cricket, money, and any other temptations have not spoiled the Indian cricketing youth, as was proved well this time Down Under. But it is not the case, unfortunately, here in Sri Lanka. As India ensures that their cricketing superiority is to be sustained for another generation, Sri Lanka youngsters and future “stars” are reprimanded for fixing, boozing, and – as we report in our lead story today – womanising. What a contrast!