The drizzle and the grey, gloomy skies were in stark contrast to the riveting action on the field, what little we got of it. In the final analysis, two controversial umpiring decisions deflected attention from another schizophrenic display of the batting art from the Indians. No other team has the capacity to rub shoulders with sublime and farcical on such a regular basis, as Ajit Agarkar – most notably – demonstrated before tea. There were more slices in his innings than in a loaf of whole-wheat, but he also played a gorgeous back-foot cover drive that made you want to believe that his century at Lord's hadn't been a once-in-a-lifetime effort. He threw his bat at everything, seemingly oblivious of the fact that his captain, at the other end, was showing admirable restraint. The wild flays connected some of the time, but everyone watching knew that his slices of luck would desert him sooner rather than later. With the naked eye, it certainly looked as if Mark Butcher had taken the catch cleanly, but that was beside the point. If Agarkar had kept his head, with lunch mere minutes away, England would have gone to tea with just one wicket to show for a session that the bowlers ought to have dominated. He made 34, but his attitude, sadly, was that of a lower-order batsman having a biff, and not a middle-order one driving home an advantage.

He could have learnt a little from Sourav Ganguly, who eschewed the temptation to have a dash at several wide balls dished out to him. He will always be the ugly duckling when batting against the short ball and the blow on the back of the helmet made you wince. It's not often you see someone watching a ball almost into their face and then averting their eyes, a bit like walking into the big right hook after evading the jab. But if there was a nagging headache, he didn't show it. As in the West Indies, he was a picture of grit and determination and if this team continues to lose, it certainly won't be for want of the captain setting an example.

It was quite bizarre that Ganguly's reaction to his dismissal became such a talking point. The decision itself was too close to call, even with ultra-slow-motion replays, but how do you expect a batsman to react when he perceives he has been given out wrongly? Surely, he's entitled to shake his head and mutter, "Not again". After all, it's not Robot Wars we're watching.

Parthiv Patel's all-too-brief introduction to the big time laid bare the fallacy of equating A tours with the real thing. At the end of the day, this is a young man – who looks about 12, to be honest – who has not even played a Ranji Trophy game. Those that hark back to Sachin Tendulkar making his Test debut at 16 forget that his mettle had already been forged in the crucible of Mumbai cricket, as tough and unforgiving a learning ground as any. Even when Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were bouncing – and hitting – him, he moved around his crease with the air of someone who had been there, done that and sent the bloodied T-shirt to the laundry. Patel, on the other hand, looked plain lost. A few more tests like this will make him, if they don't scar him first.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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