1996 in reverse

A Test series between England and India. An inexperienced touring team are well beaten in the first Test in alien conditions, and everyone predicts a rout. But the tourists fight back and have the better of the last two Tests, both of which are drawn. The home side take the series, the away side the honours. 2001? 1996 actually.

Five years ago, England thumped India by eight wickets on a typical Edgbaston seamer. As in the first Test at Mohali, there was a pivotal moment, and as at Mohali it involved Nasser Hussain. At Edgbaston he should have been given out, caught down the leg side, off Javagal Srinath on 14. He went on to make 128 - and to give England an ultimately decisive first-innings lead of 99. At Mohali, Hussain's dismissal sparked a collapse from 200 for 3 to 238 all out. Game over, and a whitewash on the cards.

But England had the upper hand from there, just as India had in the previous series. At Lord's in 1996, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made memorable debuts with 131 and 95, and England scraped a draw on the final day. The third Test was a slow-moving draw, and the series petered out on a dreary final day. And the parallels don't end there.

Rookie seamers
The home side had a virtually brand new bowling attack for the first Test. At Mohali, India fielded three debutant seamers: Tinu Yohannan, Iqbal Siddiqui and Sanjay Bangar; in 1996 England gave debuts to Alan Mullally, Min Patel and Ronnie Irani, as well as recalling Chris Lewis after an absence of two years.

Comeback men
And just as the returning Lewis won that first Test with a decisive second-innings haul (5 for 72), so a returning Indian, Anil Kumble, in his first Test at home for almost two years, did so at Mohali with 6 for 81 in the second innings.

Centurion wicketkeepers
A wicketkeeper made a hundred. Jack Russell did it at Lord's in 1996, and Deep Dasgupta followed suit at Mohali.