It is rare, in sport, that you can point to a day, an hour, a minute even, and say - this hour, this minute, this ball, was when the tide turned.
May 21 was one such day; the last over of the second ODI between India and the West Indies one such minute.
India started the over needing 11 runs off 6 balls - a task you at the time backed India to accomplish, partly because Yuvraj Singh was batting in a dream at one end, and partly because India had won the previous 17 games in which it had chased, and was on a streak hot enough to melt asbestos.
A single to Munaf Patel off the first ball; a Chinese cut by Yuvraj for four off the second; an inside out loft over wide long off to the third ball, and the ask was two runs off three balls - in other words, a doddle.
And then, Fortune like a guest aware that it had overstayed its welcome, ran away from India. Dwayne Bravo, under excruciating pressure, kept his nerve and produced a superbly disguised slow yorker. Yuvraj spotted length and, with the field up to stop singles, was down on one knee, sweeping vigorously - only to watch in horror as the ball passed bat well after the shot was complete, and went on to hit the stumps.
It was India's first defeat chasing, in 18 successive games batting second. And somehow, the team was never the same again. In the early part of the year, the team won five out of seven games against Pakistan, and six out of seven against England.
It started the West Indies tour with a win in the first ODI. Then came the defeat and since then, it hit a losing streak, going down to defeat in 12 of the next 15 games (not counting one no-result).
In marked contrast, the West Indies hit a winning streak. Overall, the West Indies in 2006 played 33 games, winning 18 and losing 14. After that famous Bravo-inspired win in Sabina Park, however, the Windies hit a hot streak, winning 11 of the 17 games it played till year end.
And now the teams are back to battle - this time, on India's turf. This time, it is the West Indies that start favorites, following its turnaround in fortunes; it is India that wears the `underdog' tag, following its reverses first in the West Indies, and more recently the 4-0 drubbing in South Africa.
There is much else tied into this series. For starters, the West Indies will be looking to fine tune its World Cup squad; India, by contrast, is yet trying to identify its team, following the loss of form of several key players.
With just 8 ODIs between now and the World Cup to get it right, India has a lot of thinking to do: on the identity of its opening combination, on the question of Virender Sehwag, on whether VVS Laxman should find a place in the ODI squad, on whether Anil Kumble should be first choice spinner in the shortened version of the game, on who the three seamers should be.
An ODI series, these days, is mere tamasha (and an opportunity to mint more money). This one, however, has larger implications. So tell us what you think: of team composition, of what India needs to do in this series in order to get its World Cup act right.
