India, July 14 -- Mohammed Siraj was on his knees. Head down. Bat rooted to the ground. After hours of fighting, fending away bouncers directed at his body, gulping down all the sledgeing from the England fielders and booing of the crowd, the event that brought an end to Siraj's vigil and India's hopes of a remarkable come-from-behind victory was an off-spinner from Shoaib Bashir that trickled onto the India pacer's stumps after he had defended it successfully.

The poster of heartbreak, if you are in the Indian camp. If you are Shoaib Bashir, bowling and fielding with a possibly broken left hand, and the fired-up, turned-tired England team, it was destiny.

Test match cricket, you beauty and all that. Sure, it was. And all of this had to...