Among the youngsters, Rohit Sharma hinted that he is building a bridge between his obvious talent and consistent batting, a facet that was often missing in his earlier strides towards the crease. Building on the two hundreds in the Tri-series at Zimbabwe, Rohit's 69 and 41 in his last two jousts in the Asia Cup are encouraging signs. 

India is also missing an all-rounder who can add value to the team. Dhoni is now resting his hopes on Ravindra Jadeja after the earlier faith invested in Irfan Pathan, did not yield the desired returns. The days ahead will prove whether the Asia Cup victory is sign of bigger things to come or it was just a surprise peak in an average performance graph.

Another facet that Dhoni wanted the team to improve in was fielding, which had played a key role in Sri Lanka's win in Tuesday's league game. Kumar Sangakkara's team was flat in the field during the finals, with several dropped chances and plenty of fumbles in the outfield. 

Kris Srikkanth, the Indian chairman of selectors, had said the players' fitness and fielding levels had been looked into while picking the squad for the tournament, and the team has also shown a renewed focus on fielding during their practice sessions. "We need to improve our fielding, but one good thing, we had a few youngsters who did really well, so we don't really have to hide too many in this side," Dhoni said. "All our fielders are not brilliant but it was good in this series, if we gradually improve our fielding till the World Cup, we will be a safe fielding side, and fielding really contributes in one-dayers." 

The Indian fans were disappointed with the team performances recently but the wounds heal quickly as every match or series follows another one pretty quickly. The passion and craze is still intact, but people are pretty much used to the ups and downs that define Indian cricket. The anti-climax of 2007 when India were thrown out of the 50-over World Cup in the first round, and the same team minus the big names going on to become World Champions becomes a case in point. Fans still burn posters and stone bungalows, but not for long. Some new match or series starts, and all attention shifts.

The Indian team is a very talented outfit, and it manages to stabilise its performances after a couple of hiccups. This Asia Cup triumph would please the fans and all those stories about the arrogant cricketers shifting their focus to late night parties in the Indian Premier League will be forgotten. When the team stumbles again, all those stories will resurface in the minds.