Why yesterday's whitewash of New Zealand is superior to India's 5-0 series win over the Englishmen in 2008

Why India's whitewash of NZ has no equals

Why yesterday's whitewash of New Zealand is superior to India's 5-0 series win over the Englishmen in 2008

Yesterdayu00a0India completed only their second whitewash (in terms of a five-match ODI series) by annihilating Daniel Vettori's New Zealanders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The only other 5-0 clean sweep achieved by India was when England toured here in the 2008-09 season.

Yuvraj Singh (right) celebrates the wicket of New Zealand's Grant Elliot
during yesterday's one-day international at the M A Chidambaram Stadium
in Chennai. Pic/AFP

On paper, India defeating an English side comprising Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood by a 5-0 margin(the last two games of the seven-match series were called off due to the infamous terrorist attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2009)u00a0 appears to be a bigger feat.

However, some finer points indicate that the win against New Zealand could prove more productive to the overall development of Indian cricket, also with the World Cup round the corner. Why the latest whitewash is more significant to that of 2008-09:

India did it without senior pros
Senior players Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh were all involved in the 2008-09 series, but were absent all through the latest whitewash of New Zealand. Also, Zaheer Khan and Suresh Raina played just two of the five one-dayers.

New Zealand at full-strength
India's young side under stand-in skipper Gautam Gambhir thrashed a full-strength New Zealand side barring the injuries of Jesse Ryder and Daryl Tuffey. The New Zealand team management conceded that this is best possible side they can also field in next year's World Cup.

NZ were tension-free
In 2008, England were marred by off field issues as the spat between coach Peter Moores and captain Kevin Pietersen threatened to rip apart the harmony in the visitors' dressing room. In thisu00a0 case, the New Zealandersu00a0 did not seem to have any team harmony issues so they were in a position to take on India in high
spirits.

Last stop before 2011 WC
India won't play any more ODIs at home before the World Cup.That made this series win more special as the selectors now have a clearer idea of the 15-man squad at the mega event in February-March 2011.

Emergence of Ashwin
Evidently, this lanky off-spinner will be difficult to keep out of India's World Cup squad, finishing as the leading wicket-taker against New Zealand with a haul of 11-241 in the five games.

Yusuf's comeback
The hunt for India's all-rounder at the World Cup is over. Pathan has sealed his place with an all-round performance of 152 runs (S/R: 132, from two innings) and eight wickets (economy rate: 5.15). This sparkling showing by the older of the Pathan brothers comes just a month after he lost a BCCI central contract.

Sree back in the mix
The Kerala speedster was away from the one-day set up for a while until he returned for this series, taking seven scalps from two games. The selectors will now consider having him full-time in the one-day
squad too.