NICK HOWSON AT THE KIA OVAL: Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul make it look easy, the series serves up more surprises and a sub-par day for the masses
Against the backdrop of some ropey middle-order batting during this series, India's top-order has been utterly imperious at times.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were certainly not among the first two options for the tourists to face the new ball.
Mayank Agarwal was due to start the series at the top of the order until he was struck in the nets by Mohammed Siraj during practice in Nottingham and forced out with a concussion.
Shubman Gill had opened the batting in eight straight Tests since making his debut in Melbourne, including in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand at The Ageas Bowl.
But a shin injury meant a third choice opener in the form of Rahul, whose role with India has exclusively been with the white-ball side since his last Test outing in August 2019.
Despite having played 36 limited-overs matches for his country and scored 1001 IPL runs since facing the West Indies in Kingston, he proved that class is permanent at Trent Bridge with a belligerent hundred to set up what should have been an opening victory.
Rohit meanwhile has gone about the job of trying to re-write his record away from home, where before the series he was without a century and was handed an unfair tag. His transition from a dominant white-ball player to a proper Test batter, even before breaking his overseas century duck, is close to completion.
Aside from their personal success, they've broken new ground as a partnership in England.
The extent of their success is born out in the statistics. Their second innings 83 was the third time they've gone past 80 during this series, something only seven other pairs have achieved. It may sound modest but we're in an era where opening the batting is frightfully tough, particularly in England. This knock was put together mostly under lights, faced with a substantial first-innings deficit facing the best swing bowler ever. It deserves respect.
Only two other pairs have completed the feat this century, the last being David Warner and Chris Rogers in the 2015 Ashes. Nevertheless, they require something sensational at Old Trafford to match Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor's haul of 823 runs in England in 1989.
India's opening pair made England toil
On paper, this should have been one of the most sought-after tickets of the summer.
The final London Test Saturday of the summer, a key day not just in determining the outcome of the match but also the series between two of the best around.
Tickets were priced between £65 and £105 for adults and £32.50 and £52.50 for Under-16s.
Everything pointed towards it being worth every penny. The match was perfectly poised (with England nicely placed), the weather forecast favourable, no Premier League football to distract and a packed house in attendance. All the ingredients were there.
For much of what followed, it fell a bit short.
Taking nothing away from the free-flowing Rohit, who defended like a Test player, drove like the master ODI opener that he is and went to his maiden overseas century like a T20 pinch-hitter with a thump over the top, but it never felt like his innings was truly recognised.
Cheteshwar Pujara was the more expressive of the pair's second innings century stand but while their dominance was impressive, it wasn't edge-of-your-seat stuff.
Beach balls, which are seen in dispatches at the northern Tests, were out after lunch but ended up being apprehended by the no-nonsense stewards, who intercepted them much quicker than they did the unwanted intruder on day two.
Mexican Waves soon followed. Normally, I'd use this space to lambast such behaviour during such a pressure-filled moment. But this was in the absence of pulsating action, with the home team lacking intensity.
The frustration was perhaps most accurately summed up when Rohit eventually succumbed to the ugliest of pull shots that landed in the hands of Chris Woakes. There was a euphoric reaction around The Kia Oval: finally, they had something to shout about.
Fans on both sides waited patiently
A flat pitch. Two top three batters set. The Barmy Army was silent. Bowling short with a softening ball to a leg-side field.
The overheads, air temperature or opponent wouldn't have convinced you, but this was an Ashes dress rehearsal.
And it wasn't exactly a word-perfect performance.
Colleague Huw Turbervill ventured in a column last month that England's bowling attack is starting to resemble the class of 2017-18, which was one-dimensional and duly dispatched in a 4-0 rout.
Without Jofra Archer and Olly Stone ahead of going Down Under, Joe Root's battery is starting to have a familiar look to four years ago. Ollie Robinson is a nice addition and has taken well to Test cricket, but it is a case of more of the same.
Mark Wood was missing at Headingley with a shoulder problem and held back for a return in this Test with Old Trafford, where his extra pace could make him a real threat, in mind.
Day three highlights just how much onus there will now be on Wood, whose recent fitness shows a clean bill of health but we know how quickly that can change.
Speaking earlier in the year, the Durham quick outlined the changes he has made in both his preparation and fitness work in an effort to warn off further ailments. But even he knows the tightrope his body continues to walk.
"I'd love to be a part of it but there is plenty of work to do," Wood said of the T20 World Cup and the Ashes in March.
Even when the 31-year-old returns, it doesn't suddenly solve the problem regarding England's sterile attack. Root hasn't always used his quicks well - Archer's fitness issues are a case in point - and that is before you consider whether any seamer can complete five Tests in just over six weeks.
The sheer number of right-arm, mid-80mph bowlers certainly helps Sam Curran's claim, due to the angles he creates, and perhaps even another express paceman. Brydon Carse comes to mind after his success with the ODI team.
Carse was due to be on standby for the third India Test before he tested positive for Covid-19 so is certainly part of the thinking with regard to the red-ball side.
Ollie Robinson struck twice in a dramatic over
As soon as you think you've got a handle on how a passage of play will unfold, this series has popped up with a surprise.
Every day, each session has thrown up a passage of play which has betrayed the flow of the game.
It has continually kept you on your toes and ensured it remains compelling.
Granted, it hasn't always been exciting, thrill-a-minute action - parts of day three were slow - but as soon as you reach a conclusion, the game has deviated in the other direction.
India were about to stamp firmly on England's throat with Rohit and Pujara at the crease and the lead building. Robinson's two wickets in an over appeared from nowhere (the crowd were bewildered) and it injected the game with fresh impetus.
Expect the unexpected on day four.
The next round of LV=Insurance County Championship matches starting on Sunday (September 5) will begin at 10:30am as is normal for games at this time of the year.
Why then are Tests in the early autumn not brought forward by 30 minutes? It is madness that a sensible regulation in place for the domestic game isn't replicated for the more lucrative international matches.
There is an argument that all England matches should start earlier, given the use of the extra 30 minutes to try and fit all the overs in is inevitable. A 6:30pm finish is actually quite late when you've been going seven-and-a-half hours.
I'll be accused of raising first-world journalist problems, but this is an issue all stakeholders should be taking note of.
We're now down 29 overs in this Test due to slow play and bad light - just short of what should be a session but never it.
It was actually pretty surprising to see Root stay on after Alex Wharf and Richard Illingworth brought out the dreaded light meter, wasting a bit of the newish ball on himself and Moeen Ali with his seamers unable to bowl.
It squeezed a few more minutes out of the day, at least, which is what the assembled masses deserved.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.