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The Australian press is more or less ignoring it, but what a fantastic Test series we’re seeing between England and India.
The first Test, at Birmingham earlier this month, was a thriller, with England winning by 31 runs. In the second Test, at Lord’s, the home side thrashed the tourists by an innings and 159 runs to lead 2-0.
It looked to be all doom and gloom for Virat Kohli’s side.
But they lifted themselves with a massive 203-run victory at Trent Bridge last week, thanks to magnificent batting by skipper Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, as well as tight swing bowling by Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami.
Surprise, surprise; only one pole was taken by a spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, out of 20 wickets to fall!
This was a match to savour for Rishabh Pant, who equalled the world record for the most number of catches on Test debut for a wicketkeeper, with seven.
But the true star has been Kohli.
In two Tests, the skipper amassed 200 runs: 149 and 51 at Birmingham, and 97 and 103 at Trent Bridge. Meanwhile, his 103 last week was his 23rd century in 69 Tests, which works out at a century every three matches.
So far, Kohli is the only batsman to top 400 runs in the series, scoring 440 runs at 73.33 with two centuries and a high score of 149.
The next highest run-getter is Jonny Bairstow, the wicket-keeper batsman having scored 206 runs at 41.22 with a high score of 93.
With the ball, Jimmy Anderson has been the most effective, taking 17 wickets at a marvellous average of 14.88 – his best spell being 5-20. Sharma is way behind, with 11 wickets at 27.27 and a best of 5-51.
Anderson has so far taken 557 wickets in 141 Tests. If he takes seven more in the next Test, he will overtake Australian Glenn McGrath’s fast-bowling record of 563 wickets (although McGrath secured his in 124 Tests).
Leading 2-1, England will retain the Pataudi Trophy if they win the fourth Test, starting on Thursday at Southampton. However, after their morale-lifting Trent Bridge victory, a 3-2 series win is not beyond India’s reach.
All the internationals played this English summer have been roller-coasters. India won the Twenty 20 internationals 2-1, winning the first and the third.
It was the other way round in One Day Internationals, which England won 2-1, taking out the second and third.
The Test series is following the same up-and-down pattern. I won’t be sleeping until 3am this week.
Actually, I won’t be sleeping at all – the US Open tennis has started!