Unremarkably effective, India find their niche

India have now developed their own style of winning Tests. If West Indies' wins in the 80s were stamped with flamboyance, and Australia's at the start of the century underlined ruthlessness and all-round strength, India's wins seem to stem from playing to their script, over and over again till it becomes boring.

If one had to write a guide on how to win Test matches, especially in the sub-continent, the current India set up would be the perfect author. They've found the perfect marriage of old-school Test cricket with the best of the contemporary. It has the explosiveness and the slow grind in equal measure. It has very little of the unpredictable and more of the routine. The term often used for the process to getting there, by the team itself is 'boring'.

India is far from being a boring team, of course. They have some of the most established players, and have mixed it well with ones who are earmarked to take it forward. They vaunt of some of the most exciting cricketers in the world. And the cricket is as ruthless as can be. But all this has been because they have found the 'boring' route to making it right.

Batting big in the first innings is spoken off with the utmost importance in Test cricket, and India have made a habit out of it. In the last year, they had scores in excess of 400, in their first innings, 11 times. And they have a great mixture of players who can help them 'bat big'. Murali Vijay is the classical Test opener, and is a perfect ally to the attacking KL Rahul. The current back-up pair of Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan has the exact traits, too. In Pujara, they have a number three who plays every innings like his life depended on it - a very useful characteristic to have for a player who might have to walk in to bat after the wicket of an opener. Virat Kohli is pure magic on his day, while Ajinkya Rahane is able to alternate between playing the attacking innings or stemming the rot as needed. Then they have their slew of allrounders who are capable of piling on more misery or putting a plug to the one they are in.

Against Sri Lanka