INDIA proved everyone wrong by winning an amazing match..!!!!

No overseas team, barring legendary Caribbean sides, had won in Perth since 1985-86, and given what transpired in Sydney a fortnight ago, India's convincing 72-run victory at the WACA will surely go down as their finest Test win. An entertaining ninth-wicket partnership between Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark gave a 16,000-strong crowd plenty of merriment, but it proved to have only nuisance value as India ended Australia's stunning 16-match streak.

Michael Clarke had been the boy on the burning deck, but with Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist back in the pavilion, the good ship was always destined for the ocean floor. And when Clarke gave Anil Kumble the charge and was beaten in the flight, it was as good as over. His 81 had spanned just 134 balls and included some majestic drives, but when he departed, he took any lingering Australian hope with him.

Johnson and Clark thought differently though. They weren't about to die wondering, and a partnership that contained more agricultural mows than a harvest season gave Kumble and the Indians more than a bit of grief. The 73-run stand at nearly a run a ball had everything - fours, huge sixes, miscued hooks falling short of fielders and even Johnson being bowled off a no-ball.

The Master-blaster makes his 38th century

If the second day belonged to the twinkling VVS Laxman, the third was all Sachin Tendulkar's as the brightest star in the Indian batting constellation shone once more at one of his favourite hunting grounds. His unbeaten century played a large part in India taking a lead in the second Test; less than the size of the lead - 69 runs - the fact that they got a lead at all will give them great strength in a series that was threatening to go steadily downhill for the visiting team.

There has been something about Tendulkar's batting in each knock in this series that stood out from the rest and it was hard to put a finger on it till the third day. On a day when India stumbled more than once, Tendulkar showed, through a mixture of tight defence, controlled shot selection and dazzling strokeplay, what has made him a batting tour de force over 17 years. While Sourav Ganguly has been the form batsman, and Laxman the man who inevitably defies the Australians, it is Tendulkar who can hurt them the most. On the day, Tendulkar scarcely put a foot wrong and, in a pleasant departure from the norm, he was more than adequately supported by a tail that showed stomach for the pitched battle.