The openers:

The performance of Jaffer and Karthik in the tour has been very heartening. There is no doubt that the two played and missed a few times, but that it is just expected in England. It looks the two have virtually cemented their positions for the tour of Australia in December. I believe the two have both the technique and the application to thrive in most conditions (barring Australia of course). Their 147 run opening stand definitely showed the English a thing or two about batting in such conditions!

Zaheer Khan:

For a long suffering Indian cricket fan, it was absolutely brilliant to watch an Indian paceman run in hard and torment the opposition. One just hopes that he will have the same control in the third test match as well. The manner in which Zaheer has come back after being the wilderness should provide some encouragement to his statement Irfan Pathan.

Tendulkar and Ganguly:

For all the flak they have been taking and there have been many, both Sachin and Saurav have maintained a very dignified silence. Sure, Sachin failed in the Lords test but he showed that he still has the mental strength to come back and score big. Real pity he missed out on his 38th century. Saurav’s determination to keep his place in the team was obvious to see and for once he didn’t get bogged down by the conditions and chose to play his natural game. And what the hell was Simon Taufel thinking when he gave both these men out!

The Sledging War:

A big thank you to the English player who came up with the Jellybeans idea! Watching Zaheer dish it out to Kevin Pietersen, I couldn’t help thinking that this definitely is the best legacy of the Ganguly era. Indian cricketers have never been known to stand up against rough opposition but over the last 5 years things have changed. It was good to see the Indian team giving it as good as they got. And the whole jellybeans drama is just ridiculous.