Bishan Singh Bedi should sleep well tonight. Arguably the greatest left-arm spinner India has ever produced, Bedi has for long protested that Sourav Ganguly's attitude towards spin is skewed; if you're left-arm, you're left out. Ganguly's standard response to that has been that he picks the best spinners available, and that there are no left-armers as good as Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. Well, it turns out that Bedi might well be vindicated. Murali Kartik has bowled superbly in the three games he's played so far. He's been economical all through – 46, 38 and 36 runs respectively in his ten-over stints – and in this game, he took three crucial wickets in the middle overs. But what is more impressive than the end is the means used to get there.

He has not been defensive. It is a pernicious stereotype – received wisdom, really – that the effective spinners in one-day cricket are those who can bowl it flat and quicker through the air, and keep the runs down. Classical spinners who flight the ball and look to deceive batsmen through the air are considered misfits. In one-day cricket, say the pundits, you can't afford to buy your wickets.

Bedi has always rubbished that point of view, and Kartik did him proud here. He gave the ball generous loop, varied his trajectory and speed through the air, and imparted plenty of spin to the ball. All his dismissals were a result of him outwitting the batsmen, and not them losing their patience and hitting out. Kartik has delivered a serious argument for being made a regular in the one-day side. If that prompts Kumble to rekindle his inner fire, so much the better for Indian cricket.

From fire to ice. Sanjay Bangar, in his typically quiet and unassuming manner, turned in a key matchwinning performance. Two games ago, he had turned from Test grinder to one-day hustler. Today, he took 2 for 39 off his 10 overs in a series dominated by the bat, and then shepherded India home after three wickets fell in the space of one run, to leave them struggling at 148 for 6.

That he performed in such crunch situations testifies not just to his composure, but also to his sense of responsibility. He might not be as talented as most of his team-mates, but when assigned a role, applies himself and plays it to perfection. His wicket-to-wicket bowling is accurate and disciplined, his batting is efficient and contains no flourishes. And he takes it upon himself to do the job.

Bangar was today, in his own way, as aggressive as Kartik. What is aggression? Not an overt display of emotion or an all-out attack on the opponents, but a relentlessness backed by self-belief and a refusal to give in. When Bangar ground it out for most of Day One at Leeds earlier this year, he was boring – but it was an essentially aggressive performance. When Reetinder Singh Sodhi slogged at Collymore off the third ball he faced today, he wasn't being aggressive – he was wimping out. Aggression is taking on the challenge headlong.

Rahul Dravid is an epitome of this new-found Indian aggression. Chris Gayle hit 13 sixes in the tournament and Dravid hit none – yet Dravid's strike-rate of 91 per 100 balls was close to Gayle's 95.5, and both played key roles in two of their side's wins. Dravid has spent more time out in the middle than any other Indian this year, and considering that he also keeps wicket in one-dayers, his workload has been tremendous. Yet, unflaggingly and uncomplainingly, he has given his all in each of these games. He was the top-scorer in the last World Cup; but one feels that he yearns for more.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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