Hussain leads his boys into manhood

During a drinks interval on the third day in Ahmedabad the England captain gathered his men around him. Some of them sat, some of them stood, all were rapt. Nasser Hussain was explaining to his players what they might do next to beat India but there was more than that to the messianic scene.

Here was a leader issuing commandments to disciples. Whatever he said they believed. If Hussain had advised them that their best tactic was to field with one hand tied behind their backs there would have been a rush to fetch the rope.

Contrast this with the Indian team and Sourav Ganguly. There might be a use for rope in their relationship but it would apply to quite another part of the anatomy. While Hussain perpetually inspires, is always involved, Ganguly appears to be adrift on an ocean of indifference. He doesn't care, why should they? It cannot be long before they hang him out to dry.

Hussain has been profoundly impressive since he was appointed captain in mid-summer 1999. Under his aegis, England hav1e enjoyed some notable victories, especially in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and quite as importantly they have become a team – together, united, co-operative, all for one and one for all.

It might invite the label of whingeing pom but it is probable that Australia inflicted such heavy defeat on England last summer because Hussain was in and out of the side. Had he stayed fit his influence would have been more pervasive. The Ashes might not have come home but hopes might not have turned to dust so quickly.

The draw in the second Test against India was ultimately turgid but that should not diminish England's achievement. Indeed, it is all the greater because of the raw nature of the captain's disciples. If the biggest worry before the tour was that the team's inexperience would ensure capitulation there was also a fear that Hussain might have some difficulty in persuading them to dance to his tune.

At 33, he is a veteran and on the sub-continent this winter he is leading a group of players from a later generation. Coming off the back of the Ashes debacle, it was surely not certain that he would effect a decent resistance, let alone cajole England to a point where they might easily have levelled then rubber at 1-1. Only a moribund pitch on the final day prevented the finish that the match deserved.

But it was still a result from which England and their leader could take immense credit. The two most inexperienced players embodied the captain's authority. Richard Dawson and James Foster are new to big-time cricket. It is arguable that they have been promoted to it before their time, it is possible that at 21 they might have failed to respond to an older leader. The match in Ahmedabad saw both of them take a giant step towards maturity.

Dawson, the Yorkshire off-spinner, had a tidy debut in the first Test in Mohali but during India's first innings last week he was somewhat dismantled by Sachin Tendulkar. That was no disgrace – Tendulkar has done it to Shane Warne regularly – but Dawson still wanted to bowl and significantly his captain still wanted him to bowl.

Dawson is an appealing cricketer. Obviously combative, he also has a ready smile on his face, which is a sure sign that he knows that cricket will provide bad days as well as good days. He had a good day yesterday, one which brought him Tendulkar's wicket. It was a moment he will treasure. Hussain kept him twirling away.

As for Foster, the wicketkeeper from Essex, it is the unfortunate modern way of sporting matters that his international career should have been written off after his first match in Mohali. A missed catch and a missed stumping yielded condemnation and his misery was compounded by a duck marked by naive use of the sweep shot. Foster, doubtless uplifted by Hussain's unswerving confidence, scored a well-upholstered 40 in England's first innings of the second Test and his keeping was never less than alert. To see him standing up to the seam bowlers yesterday – albeit that they were delivering a sequence of off-cutters and other slower balls – was to have evidence for the first time that he does possess hands into which the ball melts.

Hussain, canny Hussain, singled out both of these young charges in his immediate post-match comments. At the time, you can be assured, they would not have been cocking a deaf 'un.

The captain probably has the job for as long as he likes now. One day he may grow out of it, or it may grow out of him, but he looks as though he has been doing it forever and wants a bit longer at it. It has transformed him. He clearly has some tactical nous, he is invariably trying something in the field, he encourages bowling to a plan but it is that indefinable skill of leadership which sets him apart. He was 30 when he got the job, his days of being a spoiled brat behind him. It was the right age and he also got lucky in having the right coach in Duncan Fletcher to complement his strengths.

How these attributes have eluded Ganguly. He is still in the post partly because of the memorable triumph against Australia earlier this year. But to see his detached captaincy and his bewildering refusal to have his two leading spinners in regular harness must surely soon test the patience of his team and the selectors. Leading a group which contains an icon like Sachin Tendulkar cannot be straightforward, but Ganguly's apparent haughtiness does not help him. While it is true that a target of 374 was always likely to be beyond them on a slow surface, a team containing seven specialist batsman, at least three of whom are world class, might have attempted to go for it.

Thus, it was a disappointing end. A typical result in India, you might say, or at least redolent of the bad old days. There was a period between February 1977 and October 1983 when 23 out of 29 Tests in the country finished as draws. But there have been only four draws in the last 18.

For the tourists, it was a splendid return. Whatever happens in Bangalore next week, this has been a series which has confirmed Hussain as among the best of all England's 73 captains.