Only one word can describe this Indian victory: unbelievable. The heartening thing about this team is not just that they are able to win close matches, but that they are able do it from a variety of situations. There is no one formula; they are able to raise their game under virtually any circumstance. That, more than anything, should be a matter of celebration. For a match with such a twist, it was interesting that one couldn't really put a finger on where South Africa lost the plot. Most would say that Herschelle Gibbs retiring hurt after an excellent hundred turned things; others may think it was the dismissals of Jonty Rhodes and Boeta Dippenaar in the same over. I am more inclined to believe that it was Mark Boucher's dismissal when there were less than 50 left to get. Boucher is one who has bailed out his team several times in the past.

From there on India truly seized control. Sourav Ganguly looked emotionally spent by the end of the game - but he kept his cool while it was on. He made some very sensible bowling changes. Although I thought he brought in Sachin Tendulkar too late for his first spell, he was spot-on in bringing him back at the death. Then, he kept faith in Virender Sehwag, whose offspin was troubling Lance Klusener, and gave Zaheer Khan a shot from the other end. These were decisions that felt like they had been thought through. That is what you have to do as captain in tight situations, whether it comes off or not.

The way South Africa threw it away is pretty much a story of their cricket in recent times. I was surprised to see Shaun Pollock coming back for a second run in that final over, which kept the struggling Klusener on strike. Pollock, who hit a big six in a tense final over against West Indies earlier in the tournament, should have looked to get at the offspinner. Somehow, the approach of the South Africans gives the impression that they don't lose too much sleep over bad performances: they looked listless in the tri-series in Morocco as well. Certainly the intensity they had under Hansie Cronje is missing.

For India, crucially, this win exposed some of their frailties too. For one, they will know that playing seven batsmen is not an assurance of a huge total. None of the seven batsmen were around in the last four or five overs, which makes such a difference in limited-overs cricket. And those after No. 7 lost their wickets trying to play big shots. They could have added about ten runs more than they did if they had just looked for ones and twos.

In the bowling, though Harbhajan Singh picked up two wickets, the spinners were glaringly disappointing on a pitch that took turn. Harbhajan was fortunate that two wickets came his way in his ninth over. He was pitching it just short of a length and looking to finish on middle and leg. His was a line of containment rather than looking for wickets. Anil Kumble is simply having an ordinary tournament. I think Muttiah Muralitharan will show us against Australia on Friday just what a spinner must do in these conditions.

Ultimately, youth did it again for India. Sehwag showed great temperament in bowling those five overs at the death – you could almost see him enjoying it. Yuvraj Singh's catches were brilliant, not to mention his batting. Mohammad Kaif, even when he knew he was going to be well short of his crease, dived as if his life depended on it. This is the difference in this new generation of Indian cricketers: they are constantly looking to achieve what seems impossible.

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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