The Indian cricket team is on a roll and for fans it is festive time. With last matches in every series becoming a practice game for the new comers, the Indian team never had such dream run for this long. Though there were a few long, good periods under Saurav Ganguly, the brutal force with which the new team is decimating oppositions is something that was never talked about in Indian cricket, and was seen only in teams like the West Indies (in the 70s and early 80s), and the Australians in the last one decade.

Indians were always gentle in their game as were most other nations till mid-1990s. The slam-bang approach in the ODIs- started by Srikkanth and Navjot Singh Sidhu, promoted by Sachin Tendulkar and popularized by Sanath Jayasuriya - was always associated with openers of a few countries and a few lower order all-rounders. But a team where all the batsmen compete with each other to rain powerful strokes is rare and the current Indian team boasts of such a lineup.

Look at the lineup. The batting is led by the audacious Virender Sehwag, a synonym for demolition and currently the most dreadful opening batsman, and the great Sachin Tendulkar, who is never tired of sending the ball to the fence and ruining the careers of bowlers. It is followed by the short and aggressive Gautam Gambhir who also knows to play second fiddle when Sehwag or Sachin is on song. Then comes the young gun Suresh Raina - the powerful left-hander with a wide range of shots.

The real trouble starts when prince Yuvraj Singh comes on to the ground. No ground is big for him and the balls keep sailing over the fence at his will. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who sometimes is seen at number 3, was once known only for his bang bang approach. But with his new role as the captain, he has also learned to bat through the innings. The list seems unending with Yousuf Pathan, the new hard hitting right hand batsman, following. He is akin to Lance Klusener of South Africa and can spur the scoring rate at any moment. They are followed by the hard hitting Irfan Pathan, and Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan who can bat as well. In reserve you have Rohit Sharma, touted as Tendulkar's successor, and Ravindra Jadeja, etc.

The recently concluded Sri Lanka series and the ongoing New Zealand series stand as testimonial to India's batting strength. Hope this team brings the World Cup 2011. Great going guys.