Good going, but keep it going

Chasing challenging targets in back-to-back ODIs against South Africa in seaming conditions merits a pat on the back. But let's keep our feet on the popping crease and not venture out too far in self-adulation. This is not India, glorious India. Or the start of a new era.
It also doesn't prove the popular refrain that "when we are at our best, we can beat anybody".That is true for any team, even Bangladesh, as the World Cup has shown. It's the difference between the two Ps - performance and potential - that matters. In other words, it is consistency with a capital C that is needed.
Let's do a reality check. When we talk of an SA pace attack, we remember Allan Donald, Fanie de Villiers, Meyrick Pringle and Shaun Pollock. The last-named, incidentally the world's No. 1 bowler in ODIs according to the ICC rankings, didn't play this series.
Of course, you can't blame the Indians for Pollock's non-appearance, or even for Graeme Smith's absence and Jacques Kallis' elevation to the captaincy. Or for the South Africans deciding to field an experimental team in the second ODI. But it does take some sheen off India's victory. It's like beating the Dutch of 1974 without Johan Cruyff, especially since Pollock's ODI economy rate since January 2006 is a mind-boggling 3.18.
In the past, India have made the mistake of attaching too much significance to their 1-1 Test series draw in Australia in 2003-04, especially since the Aussies were without Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, two all-time great bowlers. Moreover, despite having the upper hand for most of the series, and our opponents having an average outing, we could only level that series. But all this was conveniently forgotten. The result? The Aussies came here in 2004 with McGrath and Warne and inflicted a humiliating series defeat.
Let's look at cold figures: We had a success percentage of 66.67 against SA in this series. Despite winning the series, we will be the world's No. 7 ODI team according to the latest ICC rankings - our lowest-ever since the system was introduced in April 2005. That is equivalent to being back-benchers among eight, if we exclude Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
One series win doesn't make a summer. In his book Indian Summers, ex-coach John Wright has described how the youngsters tended to overvalue India's triumphs because of the environment and forget all about the need to continuously push themselves.
Yuvraj Singh, please take note. His two match-winning knocks were superb. But Yuvraj has to raise the bar, and that includes examining what went wrong in the 28th over from Andrew Hall, when he played five straight dot balls. His ‘brave' comment that a win over a great team had proved that India were a good team was filled with dangerous euphoria.
On the other hand, Rahul Dravid's first sentence after winning was significant. "Despite not having the best of preparations (note BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah laughing in the background at the time on the dais), I'm happy with this effort." We need such an effort again and again to become a ‘powerhouse'.