It will be a walkover, they said; the pundits handed England little hope of success ahead of the first Test against India in Rajkot.
With a teenager at the top, seemingly perennial problems in the middle and a lack of world class spin bowlers tackling the sub-continent’s top side, it seemed the hosts might canter to a series to victory.
Fast forward to the end of Day Five, though, and it’s advantage England after they came close to forcing victory at Rajkot.
The teenager? Haseeb Hameed, the 19-year-old opening batsman who produced the best performance by a teenage debutant with a second innings 82.
The middle order? Three centuries in the first innings – Joe Root, Moeen Ali & our own Ben Stokes – put England straight on the front foot.
And the spin bowlers? Adil Rashid, after working with Saqlain Mushtaq, returned career-best Test figures as England’s spin pack outshone India’s, which includes the number one Test bowler in Ravi Ashwin.
Ashwin, in fact, hadn’t conceded so many runs in a Test since 2012 and the last 15 centuries (February 2013) scored in Indian Tests had all been by home batsmen – England managed four in one match.
It sets up the series intriguingly ahead of this week’s second encounter, starting on Thursday in Visakhapatnam.
Watch England in action at Emirates Riverside on 16 September 2017 in a highly anticipated ICC World T20 rematch against the West Indies – click here for more information