The Indian media was, expectedly, fulsome in its praise of Sachin Tendulkar and the other batsmen after another splendid day with the bat. Not surprisingly, the focus was on Tendulkar's 30th century. "Future's Sunny as Sachin blasts past the Don" screamed The Times of India, and stated: "Fate had ordained it that Sachin would touch the magic figure of 30 centuries at a venue where Sir Don Bradman had an excellent record." The Asian Age went a step further, hoping that "history will surely be more generous in mentioning the two in the same breath."

While Tendulkar hogged the limelight, the efforts of the rest of the batting didn't go unnoticed either. "Rarely has the Indian team batted with such gumption and character abroad, under conditions where both the batsmen's temperament and technique were put to test," noted The Times of India.

Writing for The Hindu, K Srikkanth, the swashbuckling Indian opener in the 80s, called Rahul Dravid's knock "an innings of exceptional quality. At home, where the ball rarely rises above the knee level, a lot of lesser names make the headlines, but the real challenge lies in conquering where the pacemen come charging in, and the ball seams, swings and bounces." Out of his 12 Test hundreds, eight have been scored overseas.

The English media was less effusive, but generous nonetheless, in its praise of India's innings. But Tendulkar's effort warranted special mention, given that questions had been raised about his temperament, form and hunger after his double failure in the first Test at Lord's.

"Hogwash," wrote Angus Fraser in The Independent. "Yesterday's century proved that all three of his supposed shortcomings are mythical. Full of crisp, clean clips and cuts as well as powerful drives, it was the equal of Dravid's both in style and value to the side."

"Some hundreds change matches," said Derek Pringle in The Daily Telegraph, "but [Tendulkar's] might well have changed the course of this series." Like Bradman, added Pringle, "there was something remorseless about his innings, as he kept risk-taking to a minimum while rubbing England's noses into the Headingley turf."

The Headingley factor was much-mentioned, for both Bradman's record there, and Tendulkar's spell with Yorkshire in 1992. "Life was much simpler then," wrote David Hopps in The Guardian, "his great talent already recognised but the trappings of commercialism and mass adulation not yet imposing a siege element to his life."

Ultimately, the combined efforts of India's batsmen left England staring down a very long barrel. Their late spree against the new ball was, wrote Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times, "the icing on an already substantial cake. England have a task this weekend that Sisyphus might not have swapped for his own punishment."

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