Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh have praised the Indian cricket team to achieve the historic maiden Test series victory in Australia. However, both have agreed to celebrate this occasion rather than comparing the Indian cricket team.

Former left-arm Indian pacer Ashish Nehra doesn’t like comparisons as he feels that the different eras can’t be compared.

Praising the Indian cricket team, Nehra said, “India played outstanding cricket, set new benchmarks and clearly came across the better team. It should have been a 3-1 verdict. It is time to celebrate the progress the team has won but I don’t like comparisons. We must not compare the different eras. You cannot. Playing on uncovered pitches against different bowlers had their own challenges. Who was better? Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli? I can’t answer that. Let us look things in the right perspective.”

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Nehra further added, “Don’t judge teams by stats alone. There are other factors too that count. Not that India did not play well in South Africa and England. Not that teams in the past were not good enough to win Test series in South Africa and Australia. In today’s international cricket, only South Africa and England are at a par with India. Had I bowled better we would have won the 2003-04 series. All teams have their moments. This is the moment for Virat Kohli’s team to cherish.”

Nehra also praised the Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah who continued his impressive performances in the Test series and finished as the joint most wicket-taker in the Test series (21 wickets; the Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon also picked up 21 wickets in that series).

Speaking about Bumrah’s success, Nehra added, “(Jasprit) Bumrah exploited the conditions and showed he has the ability to excel even on flat pitches. He bowls quick and has a superb slower one and the yorker. He can bowl long spells. He is a complete package.”

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Meanwhile, the senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh credited the Indian bowlers to win the series. However, he also said that the comparisons shouldn’t entertain in this purpose.

Harbhajan said, “It was a big win fashioned by the bowlers. The team has done us all proud. History has been made. But don’t compare eras. India was competing against Australia and not against its own previous teams which went there. Please remember the standards were different. India’s previous teams touring Australia did their best.”

The 38-year-old Harbhajan praised the present Indian spinners for their overseas performances. However, he found Cheteshwar Pujara as the key factor of the team’s success.

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The off-spinner said, “India’s main spinner doesn’t perform overseas and it is good that Kuldeep (Yadav) has emerged the main spinner now with Ravindra Jadeja. The key was Cheteshwar Pujara. He showed how Test cricket is to be played, by leaving the ball, by defending the ball. He will grow and so will the team. Mayank (Agarwal) was a big plus too.”