Indian fans are used to witness two teams in action simultaneously. A team of senior men who battled against the mightiest of the teams globally, and a team of young gentleman used to handle smaller assignments of either associate nations, or with the secondary teams of the test playing nations. And both the teams had their fair share of success doing so. Particularly, the youth team succeeding was a good sign, and one wondered what they would do against senior teams of the test playing nations. And after failed Australia series, now the youthful team comprising of upcoming stars is making a statement stating that they are here to win.

The clinical performance of the team against a full strength Protea squad in the final T20 of the series was a testament of what the young Indians can do. They battled every obstacle with great might and sublime skills to tackle the good opposition to defeat them in their own backyard. Yet this amazing victory was called out by many as a fluke and one odd win rather than a well deserved one. And many believed that their real test would be facing the in form South Africa in ODIs. And proving all the critics wrong, the young team took over the South Africans to make their mark even more stronger by winning the first ODI convincingly without much fuss.

Answering every question step by step, the team exhibited great confidence. The issues of bowling without having Bumrah, Siraj and Shami didn't seem to affect the young guns as the trio of Mukesh, Arshdeep and Avesh combined with the experience of Kuldeep pierced into the Protea batting lineup giving them no chance to recover. Arshdeep swung the ball beautifully to eventually grab his first ever 5-wicket haul in ODIs. But more importantly, his heroics had done the trick to stop a good Protea batting to be bundled out for a mere 116 runs, on a usually very high scoring Wanderers' wicket at Johannesburg.

The bowlers did their job to perfection. And furthermore, the absence of senior batters was not felt as the bowlers executed their plans as per the strategy, to make things too easy for the batters. A small target of 117 was hardly going to be a challenge for the Indian batters, and in spite of the extremely slow outfield, they chased it down too quickly within 17 overs, with 8 wickets to spare. The last victory in the T20 series gave the confidence one can have on this young side, and the victory today in the first ODI demonstrated the prowess of this young side, who now should be entrusted by billion fans back in their country.

The constant series and constant exposure to the game have had a drastic effect on the fans watching the game which they love the most. The world cup loss after a billion hopes till the semi final was a devastating phenomenon for every single Indian who wished to get the cup home. And all of what is happening in an around the IPL immediately after the world cup defeat was already not helping the purpose to grow the game. And amidst all these, the historic test victory of Women in Blue against England women , and now this victories against South Africa senior team by our second string team surely will do the job of bringing interest of the fans back to the game.

And one can now hope to see equivalent or better performances from the team going ahead. The South African conditions have proved to be a difficult one for all the Indian touring teams which have played in the past. And knowing this, along with the absence of seniors whom the country heavily banks on, was surely considered to be a great challenge for the youth team. While the youth team had great success against associate nations, and in home conditions, it was always going to be interesting to see how they turn up in the challenging South African conditions against a good host having their full strength squad. And gladly, the youthful India have tasted overseas success, and now looked to be an evolved version of themselves, who look to take on bigger obstacles going ahead.