Two major positives from this series is the returning to form of both Gambhir and Harbhajan, The latter particularly. We have survived on Zaheer being our only test-class bowler(Was exceptional tbf) in 2010 with Harby having a disastrous year, Now if he carries on like he bowled in this series, It'll be awesome.
We also really missed out on starts provided for no loss previously from Sehwag and Gambhir. In 2010 with Gambhir and an out-of-form Dravid falling early more often than not It's a case of Sachin coming in early and in the end being bowled out for 400-450 instead of the 150+ runs we could gain from Gambhir returning to form + a decent No.3. Gambhir has proved his critics wrong by stringing together three gutsy knocks in SA and being our second best bat after Sachin.
Dravid really needs to go tbh. He might still be good for struggling and finally scoring a hundred on a highway against NZ at home but he really is struggling against quality pace atm and we cannot afford a shaky No.3 with a series of tests against Roach and then England coming up. Badri played an epic knock negating some monstrous swing from Chahar and Pankaj Singh y'day and probably will be the best call, Don't think the selectors will do it though. Perhaps give Kohli or Rahane a chance? Either way Dravid needs to go now, IMHO. Maybe one proper farewell series max. Still love him though.
Sehwag's issues in SA were more temperamental than technical, IMHO. Going after everything even slightly outside off in England and SA is just not on. I thought he did a fine job surviving the opening spell of Steyn yesterday and not getting carried away. As luck would have it, He got out to Morkel's last of the spell. He definitely needs to bat sensibly against the new ball against quality bowlers. Let's hope this is a one time failure and not a loss in form.
Tendulkar and Laxman are guns obv.
Dhoni is a horrendously defensive tactician, I thought he batted well though. Good on him.
Zaheer - WAFG. I hope he doesn't play the ODIs tbh. Stupid ODIs = higher chance of injury. If it was left to me, I wouldn't play him in the WC as well and keep him in cotton till the tests come but it's pretty unreasonable to expect him not to play.
The other pacers - Ishant should definitely go. Even if it means we play a spinner in place of him in the occasion that we cannot find a test-class pacer. Sreesanth should be persisted with for one more series. Had a horrible first match, but bowled a match-winning spell in the second Innings of the second test and was our only decent bowler in the first Innings of the third test. If it was up to me, He would not have even played this series but it's harsh to drop him after 2 good performances.
As to the No.6 question, Pujara did not do any better than Raina tbh and I personally think the latter is somewhat over-criticized. It should be remembered that he hit a century on debut, though on a very flat pitch, scored an awesome fifty under pressure at the PSS and almost scored another century in the first match against Oz. His problems are not with bounce but with movement, IMO. I hope one of them turns into a good bat this year.
God, I gave him some abuse that day.