All you need is a plan

This was the series in which India never adjusted. Much has been written about Nasser Hussain's strategy, but the spirit of the game need not be brought into the picture. Uppermost among any spirit-of-the-game list must be: endeavour, always, to do best for your team, and, do it within the laws. Hussain did both. And did it with a hobbling spinner and two novice seamers.

Did it work? Yes, because India were bowled out for 291 and 238; no because Tendulkar still averaged 77. Was it boring? Ahmedabad - a little, but the pitch must take the bulk of the blame. Bangalore - not a ball of it. Rain apart, it was the most riveting of the 10 Tests India had played since the series against Australia.

Rather, the tactics went to expose several of India's shortcomings. First, realise that Ashley Giles was meant to neither do bodily harm, nor even act as strike bowler like Harold Larwood did in the Bodyline series. 16 of the 22 top-order wickets fell to pace while Giles bowled 108.2 overs for 180 runs. He did take six wickets, but three of them were tailenders.

There were methods to Giles's line outside - at times, too far outside - the right-hander's leg stump: Take him on, as Tendulkar and Sehwag did in a titillating period after lunch on day two at Bangalore. It was no more risky than Tendulkar's attack on Shane Warne's round-the-wicket stuff at Chennai three years ago. Or, more safely, they could have made England's efforts look futile by not losing wickets at the other end. Runs didn't present themselves on a platter, but they were not impossible to come by. If Tendulkar could score 50 off 55 balls during one phase of his Ahmedabad century, the others could have at least gathered 20.

It came down, once again, to incompetence against the fast bowlers. Andy Flintoff came to India with a bowling average of 55; Matthew Hoggard had only played two Tests. They bowled to off-side fields and banged it short to Sourav Ganguly. On a helpful wicket at Bangalore, good old-fashioned seam bowling removed all three - Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.

To pay respect is one thing, to bow down, quite another. Dravid made 86 at Mohali, and then 36 runs off 228 balls in the remainder of the series. Ganguly managed only 68 totally. Together, the three of them couldn't touch Tendulkar's tally of 307 runs.

India's counter-tactics weren't sharp enough. The thinking was weary, though the BCCI's itinerary should be blamed for that. No time was available for video analyses, like before the Australian series, which threw up little gems such as Mark Waugh being setup at backward short leg first ball at Mumbai. This series showed a team going through the motions. An extra spinner was kept out at Ahmedabad, an extra seamer at Bangalore. Mark Butcher's susceptibility against spin was never exploited. There was no effort to trap him on the sweep, nor to build pressure by bottling the dab to third man.

India took the series, and credit to them for that, but it is a victory that should be taken in the right spirit. The win at Mohali, confirmations of Tendulkar's genius and Javagal Srinath's second wind, were all silver linings in a so-so performance.