It is also an aspirational number for an older man who has befriended youth and managed to get so far. When you look at players good enough to play three or four hundred games you don’t analyse them every match, or every four matches. These are blue chip stocks that might see dips but which inevitably deliver over a wider horizon. You sell them for meteoric stocks at your peril.

So is it time for these blue chips to be phased out? If India’s success at Twenty20 is the argument, it is a flawed one because a quick 25 doesn’t quite have the same ring to it over 50 overs. And yet, fearless youth needs to be given an opportunity. The idea of rotating the seniors seems sound when spoken but tends to weaken before the primary objective of putting the best possible side on the park everytime. Is Rohit Sharma a better player than Rahul Dravid on current form? Is Robin Uthappa a stronger alternative to Sourav Ganguly?

Sometimes, faced as we are by dizzying changes, we tend to believe that is the solution. It is merely an alternative path and one that we must assess with care. The end of this series against Australia might be a good time to pause and reflect on the path that the selectors need to choose. The last two games will be very interesting. But it isn’t only the seniors there is a buzz about. This series has been played with extraordinary rancour and some strangely holier-than-thou statements have surfaced. The best sound in this game is still that of one object on another; willow upon leather; bat upon stump or pad, ball hitting palm. The moment the lip starts dominating, the game loses something and there is no doubt this series has been the poorer for the dialogues, largely inane, on the field and in print.

You can see why India came out firing and into Aussie domain. It is not always that those that give can take in equal measure, and by turning the heat on Australia India wanted to see if the pressure got to the visitors. It did, but sadly India’s verbal aggression wasn’t mirrored on the field and maybe India need to do it differently, be a little more selective, a little shrewder. And there is no greater aggression that an outswinger beautifully bowled, or a pull shot jauntily played or a catch easily taken or the stumps scattered from an acute angle. The high ground in a high stakes game belongs to he who is calm in the mind.

It doesn’t always matter what gestures the body makes or what sounds escape the lips as long as the mind is calm, ready and poised. And that is something that Sreesanth must learn. He can either resemble a clown, which he does sometimes, or he can seek to play the monk which will be disastrous. He needs to find the middle ground, some place to channel his inherent aggression. He cannot lose it but his aggression cannot lead him astray. A few evenings with Anil Kumble, the most aggressive Indian bowler I have seen, will not be wasted.

Sadly it isn’t only the field on which there is far too much being said. The coach, currently a temporary resident, isn’t happy with his former teammate, the chairman of selectors, who has a slightly longer tenancy. But it suddenly seems unfashionable to express a point of view in private. The camera and the microphone are far more alluring. Look how they have cast a permanent wicked spell on the secretary who has an insatiable need to be heard. It is not his strength.

Hopefully the focus will be more on cricket in the last two games. And with it the awareness that there is still a big difference between the two shorter forms of the game.