This Indian team excites me. Today they chased and won again, just as they had done regularly in the NatWest Series in England in the summer. That has been a traditional Indian weakness, so this team has come a long way indeed. It was no routine chase either – they needed to make the highest winning second-innings total ever recorded at this ground. This, just a few months after they made the second-best chase of all time at Lord's. Fantastic. Virender Sehwag was the man who made the victory happen. The thing to note about Sehwag is that he doesn't slow down when getting close to personal milestones. That tends to happen with a few Indian batsmen, often to the detriment of the team. Fifties and hundreds seem incidental to Sehwag's batting. I hope that approach never changes.

Sourav Ganguly made the lesser of the two centuries, but it was an excellent one nonetheless. The only time he looked edgy was between 20 and 30, and the reason for that could be his slow pace at the start of the innings. Typically, Ganguly will get 40 or more in the first 15 overs; today he managed just 22. The situation probably frustrated him, and he took a few undue risks at that stage.

But it was quite incredible for him to pick up the tempo so dramatically towards the end and reach his hundred. He seemed to find a sixth gear after the run-out of VVS Laxman, although I doubt that the dismissal actually served as a spur. More likely he sensed that England were on the mat, and he went for the kill.

There was nothing England could really do when confronted with such an awesome batting display. The only flaw you could possibly find was that they lacked the conviction to look for early wickets after putting up a good total. The Australians, for example, would have been far more aggressive initially, particularly against Ganguly. Once Sehwag had struck a few boundaries, the bowlers just wilted, any hint of confidence had disappeared.

India will now run into South Africa, who should prove to be stiffer opposition. I actually think India should try to stick to batting second. The pitches at the Premadasa have held up beautifully: remember Sri Lanka also chased comfortably against Pakistan earlier in the tournament. I think the lights have also aided batting last. It is good to see one-day contests in the subcontinent that are not decided at the toss, when a team typically bats first and puts up an insurmountable total.

This is proving to be an excellent period of cricket for India, but it is wise to sort out any grey areas when the going is good. The team management need to convey to Harbhajan Singh that he needs to be more attacking, more of a wicket-taker. In his last three one-dayers, he has not managed a single wicket, and he will need to somehow rectify that.

The other minor blemish today came when Rahul Dravid dropped Nasser Hussain early on. We got a peep into what sort of problems you can run into when you play a makeshift wicketkeeper. Yet I wouldn't go on about it. All gambles will have some price to pay, and the team has to learn to take it in their stride.

Sanjay Manjrekar, the mainstay of India's batting in the late 1980s and early '90s, will be providing an Expert View for all of India's matches in this tournament, as well as the semi-finals and final. He was talking to Rahul Bhattacharya.

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