Tested formula will make it hard for India

The first Test was the sort that you either love or hate as a coach. It's easy to come up with strategies when the ball is moving all over the place, wickets are falling and the game is moving forward all the time. But when you have to work for every wicket, when you have to try and 'make' something happen, that's when a team's tactical and planning ability is tested to the full.

Personally, I love working with the captain and senior players to try and gain and edge in such trying circumstances. There are times for tactics and second-guessing and, of course, there are times for sticking to the basics and just working bloody hard! Sometimes cricket can be the most complex game in the world and sometimes it really can be the simplest. Bowl the ball, hit it, catch it.

Apart from your own team, I do believe it's important for captains and coaches to keep an eye on what is happening amongst the opposition. We may sometimes say 'we're just concentrating on our own game' but the truth is that you must always keep an eye out for the opposition.

I would be very surprised if India don't make a change for the second Test in Ahmedabad. Anil Kumble joked after Chennai that he would have preferred, in hindsight, to have played three specialist batsmen and seven bowlers! But there must also be an element of truth in what he says.

If the wicket is flat, which it probably will be, then India's tried and trusted formula of playing just four bowlers will make it very hard work for them. Besides, does India really need six specialist batsmen with Dhoni at number seven? I expect Irfan Pathan – or maybe even a third spinner – to be included in the XI.

But who do they leave out? It would be hard on any of the batsmen because they did nothing wrong. Jaffer shared a double century opening stand with the brilliant Sehwag, so could you drop him? Will Laxman be the fall guy again? I understand how hard it would be to ask a legend like Ganguly to have a rest. It will be a tough choice for the home side but one I believe they will have to make.

Rightly, the match will remembered as Viru's Test. When I talked about 'planning' and strategising, sometimes the only plan left for a coach and captain is to pray and that is how Viru left us feeling on the third day during his unbelievable assault on our bowlers. We tried absolutely everything we could, except hitting him over the head with a stump although that thought did occur to some of our bowlers!

Not a single player on either side could say they had seen a better innings, certainly in terms of strokeplay and scoring rate for such a long period of time. As Graeme said afterwards, sometimes in sport you just have to accept that your opponent is better than you and there is nothing you can do about it. I will never forget that innings.

Honours even after round one. Roll on round two! (Gameplan)