One of my favourite what ifs of history is to imagine what would have happened if, instead of British traders coming to India with a begging letter from Queen Elizabeth I to Emperor Akbar to let her subjects trade, the great Mughals had ventured west and conquered England.

That remains a what if, but the first day’s play at The Oval gave ample proof of how India has conquered cricket.  True, we did not have Englishmen wearing dhotis and speaking Hindi, but The Oval was packed with Indians making me feel I was back at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) watching cricket.