Mohan: No. 1 or not, India is proud

India may well lose the top Test spot after this series but they should be proud of what they achieved over the last two years.

There goes India’s number one Test ranking. There is still a de facto look to it. The Test mace may not be India’s when the time comes early next year to crown the next numero uno. Team India cannot complain. They have held the mace for a couple of years and looked good while doing so. A concatenation of circumstances can be said to have worked against them at Lord’s.

The skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was so downcast as to admit Murphy’s Law was in force in the landmark Test – ‘Everything that had to go wrong went wrong.’ The biggest challenge facing him now is to raise the spirit of his troops in time not to give away the number one Test ranking as well as the Pataudi trophy. Now that would be a double whammy.

The venerable Derek Pringle, once talked of as the University Botham when he played against us in the ’80s in England, now writes that England won because of their pack mentality and that the Indians were a disparate lot separated by the luster of their individual brilliance. It is difficult to accept this line of argument. After all, a team does not win a World Cup if it is not knitted into a unit.

The great danger here is the ball will also swing at Trent Bridge where India won a Test in 2007 (and the series with it), which means the batsmen will have to perk up considerably, honing their instincts to play late and wisely. England has the most skilful swing bowling combination for the conditions and it is possible to predict a distinct advantage for them after their win at Lord’s.

The real reason India lost is the batsmen were up against a menacing attack in conditions of very mild cloud cover. The choice of ball is also intriguing as Nasser Hussain disclosed on television that England had chosen a particular year of manufacture of the Duke ball, much like a connoisseur of wine would order his vintage. No complaints on this score as such home advantage is a given.

There was a bit of brouhaha over Dhoni bowling his little dibbly dobblers. As skipper with an attack depleted by the injury to Zaheer Khan, his main strike bowler, he had to try something. The effort itself cannot be blamed and he almost had Kevin Pietersen if not for the UDRS spoiling a great news story by denying there was any outside edge.

Dhoni would have to do much more than bowl a few overs of medium pace in the rest of the series. India came close enough to upsetting the applecart of the front runner England on the fourth day. Strategic thinking was seen in its worst manifestation when a 22-year-old fast bowler wanted a break and the captain gave him the breather, that too just after a 40-minute luncheon break.

Less talented bowlers than Ishant Sharma would have been pawing at the ground like a warhorse if ever they sighted the last recognized pair after having enforced the shambles in the innings. The opportunity has passed, which in terms of the series is likely to be far more lethal. Can India shed aside their diffidence and their under-preparation and reawaken their pride in time at being the best Test side in the world?

Also, it would be most interesting to see if Dhoni and Fletcher will gamble. Will they leave out Harbhajan Singh since the conditions in Trent Bridge are likely to be similar as those at Lord’s and bring in Amit Mishra on the ground that a leggie more likely to succeed against English batsmen? If they do, they would be giving out a positive message that they are willing to try and win and nullify the home team’s series lead. If they stick to shibboleths, they will be history soon.