He almost got him first ball to a little inside edge that rolled near the stumps, while another one looped anxiously past VVS Laxman at short cover. Yuvraj Singh’s introduction in the third over of the England innings to tackle Kevin Pietersen narrowly missed the mark of success and was a cause of much amusement to the England captain.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said an amused Pietersen. “When the ball was swinging around, a guy like Zaheer Khan, one of the best bowlers I have ever faced, not bowling and (instead) a pie-chucker like Yuvraj bowling is something you don’t mind,” said the right-hander.

Zaheer Khan had removed Strauss, and Ishant had packed off Ian Bell in the first two overs, and the move to bring in Yuvraj did raise a few eyebrows. But coach Gary Kirsten defended Dhoni’s decision to bowl him at that point. “He got him out a couple of times (in the one-day series and the first Test). You can get out to pie-chuckers as well. Yuvraj is a very effective bowler and we are starting to see in international cricket the slider is becoming a more effective delivery because umpires are now giving batsmen out even when they take a stride forward,” he said.

Dhoni’s tactics possibly upset Zaheer Khan’s rhythm early on as the bowlers failed to make the new ball count after the first two overs. Even Dhoni’s decision not to bowl Virender Sehwag in the entire innings seemed baffling — especially after Amit Mishra extracted considerable turn and Harbhajan Singh failed miserably to either stem the flow of runs or pile on the pressure.