Many hours on, was he regretting having invited Australia to bat?

“No.... Given the conditions, I took the right decision. Believe me, the wicket was wet and, had we batted, we could have been shot out for.... Then, people would have been wondering why I didn’t choose to field.... At times, it’s a no-win situation,” Sourav responded, convinced that what followed, not the decision itself, made all the difference.

The captain, incidentally, finished as the second highest scorer (465 runs) — only, that’s no consolation. The No.1 spot went to Sachin Tendulkar (673). Among bowlers, Chaminda Vaas topped with 23 wickets, followed by Brett Lee (22). While Sourav was left to reflect on what could have been, Ricky Ponting’s Australians literally had a ball. Unusually, they remained in the dressing room (“enjoying each other’s company”, as a source put it) for a few hours and, then, attended a party hosted by team sponsors Travelex.

Indeed, the sponsor would have had to travel miles to get the mileage provided by contemporary cricket’s most ruthless team. After considerable drama over their return, most members of the Indian team took a special Air-India flight to Mumbai tonight. Owing to contractual obligations, the full contingent was to have returned aboard South African Airways on Wednesday.