Bangalore Test, Day 5
Sunday, December 23, 2001 We had a really good chance today. It was a deteriorating wicket, beginning to take a bit of spin, but the weather is something you just can't do anything about. Given a full day of 105 overs, we might have taken a bit of a chance – declared at lunch and set them a total of, say, 270, 280, but then it started raining again.

So we've lost 1-0, but that scoreline can all be put down to a bad couple of hours at Mohali. I was going well on 85 not out, Graham Thorpe was on 20, but after that the innings folded. It's a pity – other than that we played some good cricket in that first Test, we were excellent at Ahmedabad, and there were some fine performances in this game as well.

I couldn't pick out any guys in this party who stood out from the rest. Really, nobody can be disappointed with their contribution. For the younger lads, a tour of India first-up is seriously tricky, but I am very proud of all of them. It was a team effort from start to finish – we all enjoyed each other's company, so there was no siege mentality, and, apart from the Christmas factor in the last couple of days, nobody's focus has ever strayed from the job.

Andrew Flintoff was desperately disappointed about his duck the other day, but I told him to keep his head up and his chest puffed out. So he galloped in, worked hard for his captain, and in the space of three days he went from that duck to the Man-of-the-Match award. As an allrounder he has two strings to his bow, and so long as he keeps working hard it won't matter that one of them isn't firing as well as the other.

Matthew Hoggard has always been in the frame. One of his assets is the swing he gets, but as that didn't kick in until the last Test, he had to rely on his other great strength, which is his stamina and willingness. He never stopped running in hard for me, and in these conditions that is exactly what you need.

At no stage at all did I look up and wish I had Gough and Caddick to fall back on. There's never any point in wishing for any side other than the one you're given. If I did that, I could hope to have a Waugh, a Warne, even a Bradman in my team. The boys gave everything on this tour, and I am immensely proud of them.

I have no complaints about the itinerary for this tour, and I don't think we were under-prepared for the first Test. You can get the sun on your back and a few overs under your belt in the warm-up matches but, with all respect, they cannot prepare you for facing Kumble or bowling to Tendulkar. It's not an issue of standards, but of comparisons. Jamie Foster, for instance, learnt far more in three consecutive Tests than he could possibly have done against second XI equivalents.

I'm a big fan of back-to-back Tests, but I think any more than three would be pushing the limit. Quality, not quantity, is what matters, and that's something I would like to raise with the ECB and the ICC. We are all pretty knackered now, and sadly the amount of cricket we played meant there was very little time for seeing much of the country. India is a wonderful place, full of character and people who are crazy about the game, and it would have been nice to get out and see something other than hotels and stadiums.

As I said all along, when we raised those security fears before the series, they were not a reflection on India itself, but on the world situation as it stood. It's still a worry – only yesterday there was another plane incident, and one crashed in New York the day we flew out. A lot of us have young families back home, and it was only natural that we should voice our concerns. We're only human.

India come over to England next summer, but that will be a completely different series. The ball will jag around more, so the pace of the games will be much quicker, and the balance of the sides will have to change as well. But the likes of Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly have all had loads of experience in England, and have scored runs as well. Class is class, wherever you play.

I've tried to do a bit of Christmas shopping, but there's not a lot of choice in Bangalore unfortunately. I'm just looking forward to getting home, and spending some time with my family. We're back out here in three weeks for the one-dayers, so I'm just going to abandon all my kit and pick it up when we return.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Andrew Miller. His thoughts appeared on Wisden.com throughout the Test series, and will return in January for the one-dayers.

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