The Surfer

What puts Sehwag in a different league among Test batsmen is his sensational strike rate of 81.91, which along with his average (53.43) makes for a telling combination. His post-January 2008 (his comeback month) stats are even more striking - 3,539 runs at 58.98 and a strike rate of 90.55! While the other top Indian batsmen compare favourably with Sehwag as far as averages are concerned for the same period (January 2008-present) except Rahul Dravid, their strike rates simply pale in comparison.

The dictum that luck favours the brave is an oft repeated cliché, but in Dhoni's case it has almost always proved true, be it the T20 World Cup final or the ODI World Cup. In the final at Mumbai, he made a tactical move of which he himself was the originator as well as the executioner. Failure here was no option since the stakes were too high. Dhoni, like many times in the past, dared destiny and conquered it.

As he demonstrated with some prowess at Lord's in the first Test, Prior has become an all-round player of style and substance. His recent form with the bat has been breathtaking: three hundreds in his last six innings, eight scores above 50 in his last 18.

Prior worked tirelessly with former English keeper Bruce French to groove his technique. In his early days, he rose late from an awkward wide-based crouch that anchored his bodyweight in his heels and prevented him from skipping sideways; the method was refined so he could move on the balls of his feet more often. His natural athleticism, with which he flung himself when standing back, was thus easier expressed.

The compulsion to rush to conclusions does not tally with the Test format. Dhoni knows that India have only lost the first round of the four. We're one-quarter of the way through.

India are the champion team, and should be judged on how they respond to defeat at Trent Bridge, not the fact that they lost at Lord's.

I thought we had seen the last of the breed when Mohammad Asif was banned, so Kumar's emergence has been a welcome fillip to the trade of Tom Cartwright, Geoff Arnold and Bob Massie, the ultimate one-hit wonder. Good days are promised as well as the bad that are part of the job description for such a precarious occupation. Fortunately for him, Trent Bridge is the ideal stage for an encore.

If India are ever to go with a four-pronged pace attack on this tour, it has to be at Trent Bridge. The list of leading wicket-takers at this venue is overwhelmingly dominated by fast bowlers — of the top-20 wicket-takers, 17 have been pacers and three leg-spinners. Over here, finger spinners find it tough to make an impression. In the first Test of the England-Pakistan series in 2010 — the last longer-version international game played here — the pacers played havoc. Of the 37 wickets that fell, 33 went to the pacers and there were two run-outs. England offie Graeme Swann had perhaps the easiest game of his career, as he bowled just 2 overs.

At first sight the selectors might appear to be thrashing around. In fact, after a wretched and chaotic season, they may be getting back on track. Neither Lyon nor Copeland emerged from the schemes popping up all over the place and designed to microwave cricketers, a risky proposition because the brains tend to get left behind.

England functioned with a resilience and conviction that made them difficult to withstand. From the moment they lost the toss under heavy cloud cover, there were several periods in an engrossing match, which paraded Test cricket in all its glory, when they might have wilted.

But each time, in each of the four innings, they responded as champions do by finding a way, and their exhibition on the final day was relentless. The occasion was uplifted, if it needed it, by an exultant crowd which had turned up spontaneously, rather than having booked tickets months and months in advance.

After four days of delightful ding-dong between the best two teams in the world came a denouement that was as perfect a commemorative gift as five-day cricket could hope to receive: thrills and spills from first delivery to last, a final-session triumph conjured from bowling excellence and an atmosphere that mixed febrile and fiesta to intoxicating effect.

As this Test has gone on, the number of India supporters in attendance has increased. It appears as though large numbers of tickets only really become available to the general public towards the end of the match. An indicator of the number of Indian fans in the ground can be gauged by the roar that follows India taking a wicket or hitting a four. On Sunday it was loud, yesterday, when Tendulkar walked out to bat, we could have been playing in Mumbai.

So, at cricket's cutting edge, plenty of honest but unprepossessing state cricketers, a ragtag army of international mercenaries, and a once-great Test opener who latterly has barely been able to hit the ball off the square … but not new Australian captain Michael Clarke, who - admirably - has forsworn the new pots of gold to dedicate himself to the task of resurrecting the ailing Test team.

"Bowling should come from the shoulder and involve the fingers and wrists, but too many of today’s bowlers use their elbow. There’s also too much emphasis on dot balls. It seems to be they are the holy grail for spinners and the urge to bowl wicket-taking balls is dying. But a wicket-taking ball is a dot ball automatically."