So the dramatic change of fortunes didn't materialise and India duly wrapped up a nine-wicket victory. Here in England, all the talk is about the so-called mistake of not picking Monty Panesar, but opinions seem to be divided over who he should have replaced, which suggests it wasn't such an obvious selection after all. The same goes for what should happen for the Second Test. Bresnan or Patel?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and not even the Indian team were expecting the pitch to go so low and slow after the first two days. Ojha may have taken the most wickets, but Zaheer Khan and Yadav also bowled quite well, while England's seamers were simply ineffective. I don't know what the Mumbai groundsmen are preparing but all I can offer Cook, Flower and Miller by way of advice is not to worry about having a number eleven who can't bat. This is not limited-over cricket!
The media seems to be full of England's failure but let's not forget India's triumph. Pujara was a revelation, Sehwag was revitalised, Yuvraj Singh showed he has recovered and Ojha proved he can slug it out with the best of them, taking wickets and breaking batsmen's hearts in the process in more than the familiar four overs.
With the notable exceptions of Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, the visiting batsmen came off a distant second best. The skipper was correct in shifting the blame away from the Monty non-selection to the poor performances of the remaining batsmen. It was unfortunate that proven stars like Trott, Pietersen and Bell all failed twice, even without an Ajmal bowling at them. New boy Nick Compton stonewalled successfully in the second innings while Cook gathered pace, and is unlikely to be discarded for Mumbai. Bairstow for the absent Bell is pretty much a given.
So what about India? Meagre returns from Tendulkar and Dhoni must continue to cause concern but I doubt there will be changes unless injury intervenes. It's 1-0 to the home nation and in convincing style. Now they have to maintain that superiority but a series win is not yet guaranteed.
