After our win over the Kolkata Knight Riders — and I will call it a victory no matter what anyone says about rain and Duckworth/Lewis — we are pretty satisfied with the way we have found our balance.

It wasn’t easy initially to recover from the effects that the exodus of the Australians and Jacob Oram had on the team and we have worked really hard to turn our successive defeats around. Now, however, it looks as though we are playing well within our comfort zone, particularly after Sunday’s game.

Against Sourav Ganguly’s team, we were in control throughout and at no time did the target of 150 seem unattainable, particularly when play was stopped with Chennai Super Kings on 55 for no loss.

Yes, it would have been tough had we lost a couple of wickets at the start because we have seen how difficult it is to recover from early setbacks in this format, but I believe we would have won Sunday’s game without help from the weather gods.

Those who point out that luck has gone our way ignore a crucial fact: when you work hard, you create opportunities that are sometimes easy to classify as ‘luck’. I believe luck doesn’t come to your aid unless you do something to deserve it, and we as a team have done a lot.

The bonding within us has grown stronger with each game, whether we win or lose, and I have been amazed and impressed at the way several members of the team, especially the youngsters, have gone about handling the various social obligations that we are bound to fulfil as part of our commitments to our sponsors and associates.

The chief problem is that since most of the games don’t end before 11pm at the earliest, match days tend to become very long ones if we have to make social appearances after that.

But the energy and enthusiasm of the younger lot are infectious, and most of my young Indian teammates, with Makhaya Ntini leading the way, leave us oldies for dead on the dance floor. That apart, I’ve been learning a lot from this team and this interaction has immeasurably enriched my career.

Kids like Vidyut and Parthiv are extremely willing to learn and listen, too, and I look forward to them becoming stars of the future for India. We play the Bangalore Royal Challengers on Wednesday, who have had a rough time in this tournament, but we are following a basic of rule of sport: never take your opponents lightly. An upset may always be round the corner.