This was the final act that promised much, but delivered little. The protagonists had the opportunity to break with boring tradition and formulaic trash and come up with something bold, innovative and entertaining. Brave French New Wave could have replaced Bollywood Bore had India shown even a mite of initiative in the last two sessions. Instead, we got a Test match that sleepwalked to its conclusion without so much as a bump on the head or broken furniture to liven things up. India may well congratulate themselves on a job well done, a series convincingly won. But if they look back on the final day at Eden Gardens with eyes free of sleep cobwebs, they will glimpse an opportunity lost. Don't forget that this is more or less the same team that so thrillingly bowled Australia out in the space of two unforgettable sessions here 18 months ago.

Some will tell you that they had everything to gain and nothing to lose in that situation, but if we ask ourselves honestly, what did they stand to lose here? Would defeat while pressing for victory in a dead rubber have made an iota of difference in the larger scheme of things?

Over the past few months, the Indians have shaped up enough to be considered the only real threat, however remote, to Australia's continued domination of the world game. But events today illustrated just how far they still have to go to reach that green-and-gold standard.

Just over a year ago, Steve Waugh set New Zealand 284 to win from 57 overs, in a rain-hit Brisbane Test that Australia had controlled from ball one. To their credit, New Zealand took up the gauntlet and ran with it fearlessly. Only the experience of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne stopped them in the final stride, as they fell just 10 runs short of cricketing immortality. It was a fantastic advertisement for Test cricket, two teams going for the killer blow with scarcely a thought of defeat marring the picture.

The way India batted in the opening hour, with Sachin Tendulkar in such majestic form, one expected a similarly challenging declaration that would entice West Indies to go for a pride-restoring victory. Instead, they dawdled through the latter half of the morning, with Tendulkar and Laxman switching off as dramatically as they had switched on earlier.

One minute, Tendulkar was sailing along as serenely as The Yankee Clipper, hitting the ball as sweetly as Joe DiMaggio ever did in his pomp, the next minute he was hauling down the sails for a period of dead calm. It set the tone for the rest of the day, and half an hour after the lunch break, it was blatantly clear that there would be no attempt to make a match of it.

People bemoan the lack of interest in Test cricket in many parts of the subcontinent, and the preponderance of the one-day cricket/instant-gratification culture. The pyjamas may be ridiculous and some games may look contrived, but it's still some form of entertainment.

What we witnessed today was anything but, and if in the process, a few records were set and a few individual records bettered, we shouldn't give a toss. The old farts can say what they like, but if what you might call the pure form of cricket is to survive, the Australian way is the only way. At the risk of sounding like a scruffy Generation X-er, Here we are now, entertain us ...

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

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