London: ‘England vs Dravid’.

That placard, which surfaced as India’s first innings came to a close before tea on Day IV, Sunday, put the four-Test series in perspective.

It has, after all, been the England-inflicted carnage on one side; the 38-year-old Rahul Dravid’s commitment on the other.

England are on the verge of roaring to a 4-0 win, Dravid has 461 runs to show for consistency of the highest order in daunting circumstances.

It was as far back as 1967-68, in Australia, that India last got wiped out 0-4 in a series.

The day had quite a few talking points, but none more so than Dravid carrying his bat through innings No.1, the first non-specialist opener from India to do so.

After batting for over six hours (379 minutes for his 146), Dravid had just a ten-minute break before setting out to launch innings No.2, too. He’d contributed 13 when he was given out somewhat controversially, via the review.

Later, the gentleman that he is, Dravid admitted that he’d got a “feather touch” before being caught at short-leg.

A mere 13 or not, the number of runs didn’t matter as Dravid, the first to face 30,000 deliveries in Test cricket, was accorded a standing ovation by another sellout crowd at The Oval.

Somebody, at least, did have pride and India’s honour on his mind and those who’d packed the ground applauded.

While Dravid top-scored, leg-spinner Amit Mishra was the second-highest, with 43. Their partnership produced 87 for the seventh wicket and helped India reach 300 for the only time in the series.

The innings folded up on exactly 300 (Gautam Gambhir batted at No.9 and was peppered with the short-pitched stuff), giving England the luxury of a 291-run lead. The follow-on was a formality.

After Dravid’s dismissal, two great balls, from Graeme Swann to Virender Sehwag and from James Anderson to V.V.S. Laxman, made it worse for India.

At stumps, 129 for three, Sachin Tendulkar was on 35, 65 away from what would be his 100th International hundred. With him, on a crumbling wicket, was nightwatchman Mishra.

The stage is actually set for The Master (who should be thankful to Andrew Strauss and Co. for not appealing for a stumping) to end the series on a high and to avert a 0-4 thrashing. In fact, this may even be Sachin’s last Test in England.

Dravid, for one, hasn’t given up hope.

“I’m still hopeful we’ll be able to draw the Test and that it will be Sachin’s day... All of England has been waiting (for the 100th hundred),” Dravid remarked.

Reflecting on the series, Dravid said: “There’s personal satisfaction, but we’ve failed collectively... This just hadn’t happened to us in a long time... I’ve got mixed feelings.”

There are lessons to learn and the younger batsman can begin by emulating Dravid’s preparation. To give an example, the former captain had been the first at nets on the eve of the Test.

That was a good 15 minutes or so before the scheduled start of the practice session (reported, by the way, in last Thursday’s edition of The Telegraph).

Nothing comes easy at the highest level and Dravid understood that very early in his career, which began in the summer of 1996. That has taken him to over 12,500 runs in Test cricket and 35 hundreds.

One can add the 10,000-plus runs in ODIs and the dozen hundreds in that format.

Swann, visibly delighted, acknowledged that he was “excited.” More so, after having played the “whole season on belters and seaming wickets.”

Looking ahead, to the final day of the Pataudi Trophy, the top-ranked spinner commented: “We need to make inroads in the morning... My body is aching like it hasn’t all summer, but it’s a nice ache!”

Trust Swann to say that. While he’s going to save energy and sleep well, umpire Rod Tucker may have a sleepless night after a horrid afternoon.