What seemed to be a match heading to a pathetic draw turned fast on the 4th day, thanks to Anil Kumble with the bat first and then with the ball. The rest of the tail wagged big time to give India a 38-run lead which was enough to scare England and put them in an unexplainable shell.

Invariably, when a team becomes overly defensive-minded, they start falling apart. Of course, the bounce in the pitch did not help England. Munaf Patel started the slide and then Harbajan and Kumble made England come down to its knees at 100-something for 5.

Then on the final day, Patel ensured that India do not end up with the ‘unable to finish an innings’ tag. He took 3 quick wickets and after some sort of resistance from Flintoff, it was all over. India needed only 144 to win with plenty of time. The sunshine was back - literally as well as figuratively.

Sehwag ‘fired’ after all. Now he is slotted in for 5 more tests and that is what I call lucky. This man has an amazing ability to score when most needed - not from a team perspective but from his own position perspective - and he does. This time, his 76 not out is probably going to stick in everyone’s minds and not the string of failures before that.

But that is all besides the point … the point is that India is now 1-0 up in the series and cannot lose it after the draw in the first match. On the other hand, England will be under tremendous pressure to win the next match so that they can hold on to their #2 ranking in the ICC table.