And yet, in the aftermath of their nine-wicket defeat in the First Test at Ahmedabad, it had been hard to avoid a sense of gloomy inevitability. Ranged against them, apparently, were all their old failings – and some recent ones too: scars from the 3–0 defeat in the UAE by Pakistan and their slow bowlers were still raw. They had not won a series in Asia, Bangladesh excepted, for 12 years; and they had not won in India since 1984-85, when David Gower’s side had become the first – and, until now, only – visiting team to beat them in a Test series after falling behind. There were doubts, too, about the spirit within the squad. Kevin Pietersen had only just returned on a short-term central contract, having been omitted from the final Test of the home series against South Africa and the World Twenty20 squad following revelations about his relationship with his team-mates. And despite Pietersen’s return, itself a feather in the cap for the new captain, Alastair Cook, there remained selection issues.
