Lonely the man without heroes. Going by that logic, Indian cricket fans must have felt like Robinson Crusoe whenever the team played away from home. Give or take a stray performance here and there, the last Indian hero was Kapil Dev, and he's more likely to be found on golf courses - and at Wisden award ceremonies - these days. For all the hype, the team of the new millennium didn't even come close to nicking the mustard when it really mattered, i.e. away from home. Small wonder then that old VHS tapes of Headingley and Lord's 1986 are still in working condition - you need something to cling to after 16 years without a sniff of success abroad. That statistic didn't change today, and it's not likely to this summer. Headingley and The Oval are two traditional English strongholds and it's difficult to see this Indian bowling attack knocking over twenty pins, leave alone wickets. But for a few days at least, fans can savour a performance that was everything that Indian cricket hasn't been since the almost-halcyon years in the mid-eighties – gritty, committed and with more guts than the butcher's.

What's more, with the exception of VVS Laxman who had a total eclipse, all the stars shone. Rahul Dravid was magnificent, worthy of comparison with the incomparable Sunny Gavaskar. Batting alongside the far more flamboyant Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, it was taken for granted that his would be a supporting act. But what a show it was. Matthew Hoggard did induce an edge, which the umpire missed, and Andrew Flintoff hit the wrists a couple of times, but by and large, he was a man in total control. He defended dourly at times and played some glorious shots at others, but as long as he was there, you knew the game could be saved – a bit like the promise of a light switch nearby when the horror movie got too scary.

Sachin Tendulkar added only 36 this morning and his more virulent critics will whine about his inability to see the task to the end. But to do that is to be completely oblivious to the sheer beauty of the innings he put together on the fourth evening, when he arrived at the crease with India two wickets down for almost nothing. The flurry of shots against Hoggard and Flintoff was a classy statement of intent and by the day's end India had the air of a weary boxer revived by some magic from the corner. The rate at which Tendulkar and Dravid scored asked too many questions of an English attack that, for all its sterling effort, was too one-dimensional.

Once Tendulkar departed though, it still needed Ganguly to take his place on the bridge. After going through a horrid patch prior to the West Indies tour, he's made some precious runs for his side. Today was no different and the Captain Snooty-callers might be advised to go into hiding. His 99 had its share of chancy strokes, but that's the nature of the beast. Most crucially though, his two innings here – in sharp contrast to the silky knocks in 1996 – were exercises in discipline and determination, an example to the rest of his team. It's a real pity that two of the most valuable innings he's played in his life – Kandy last year was the other – didn't result in centuries.

VVS Laxman would be making the short 50-mile trip to Coventry now but for the fact that he has been India's Mr. Dependable over the past few months. It was an atrocious pull, reminiscent of the worst shots that Mohammed Azharuddin came up with in his career. Like his fellow Hyderabadi, Laxman's beyond compare when good and beyond the pale when awful.

This great escape however shouldn't deflect attention from what was a poor effort on the whole from the Indians. Saving matches is one thing, but winning them will prove beyond them unless they discover a couple of bowlers who know the meaning of line and length. Bowl like they did here, and Hoggard will be the next to look like a world-class batsman.

For the moment though, we can sit back and bask in the reflected glory. The Crusoe life gets to you after a while.

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

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