It was a fitting way to send off two of India's favourite sons, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble - a 2-0 series win over Australia, and with it the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Ganguly and Kumble are both stepping down from International cricket after serving their country for well over the past decade, and although Kumble could not play in the final Test due to an injury, at the conclusion of the match you got a sense of just how much these two players mean to their team mates.

The good thing for Indian cricket is that they seem well prepared for the departure of Ganguly and Kumble, with the likes of Youvraj Singh and young spinner Amit Mishra (who took three wickets in the final innings) the likely choices to take their places in the team.

They have obviously been preparing for their eventual retirements for some time, whereas Australia now seem to be struggling after losing a number of players.

We still don't think Australia's dominance over cricket has come to an end, but what is clear is that their strangle hold over cricket has been loosened. And, most importantly, their bully tactics now seem to be ineffectual against the other great Test sides in cricket, like India.

The Australians will be facing a lot of criticism, none more so than Ricky Ponting who chose to use part-time bowlers to speed up the over rate, rather than bowl front line bowlers to finish off the Indian lower order. It's been said that he was more concerned with his own well being rather than the interests of the team, as the captain can face suspension if the team is six overs behind schedule...which, at various stages, they were.

As Black Caps supporters we're very keen to see how our boys go against the Aussies in a week's time. The Black Caps will play two Tests against Australia, and although winning will be tough, we see a slight (and we mean very slight...) chance that the Black Caps can pounce on the wounded Aussies. It won't be easy, especially without the likes of Jacob Oram, but our batsmen should be able to withstand the lackluster bowling lineup of the Aussies.

Unfortunately, we think the Aussies will be too strong - even in their current state, which possibly doesn't say much for New Zealand cricket. But if there's one thing we've come to expect, it's that a wounded Aussie side can be very dangerous - and they don't come more wounded than the Australian team right now.

Photo credits, Flickr - hashmil (Ganguly), Prabu.S (Kumble)