Kohli’s team might be India’s best ever; has the results to show for it

That 36 in Adelaide and 78 in Leeds highlight the temperament of players who can let bygones be bygones and remember only the good times

India’s current team might be their greatest ever. They won the last two series in Australia and could win their first in England since 2007. In the ‘golden age’ — the Sachin Tendulkar era — India won two Tests in Australia and two in England. They have now matched that record in less than a year. Great teams must have the record to show for it. Other factors often enter the calculation too — impressive individual performances, manner of wins, consistency, ability to defend, even aesthetic elements. But in the end, the numbers matter, and this team has done enough in recent years to qualify as India’s best in nearly nine decades of Test cricket. There was a phase, 2002-2004, when India won Tests at Port of Spain, Leeds, Adelaide, Multan and Rawalpindi. But only in Pakistan did they win the series. That team had everything — the world’s best batsman in Tendulkar, opener Virender Sehwag, a middle order comprising Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Sourav Ganguly — veteran writer David Frith thought this might be the finest line-up in the history of the game — and Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath.