Dhoni implacable on Anderson

James Anderson has riled many opponents in an illustrious Test career, but when it came to his disagreement with Ravindra Jadeja, India's captain MS Dhoni saw a chance to make a stand.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

It is usually the other way around. MS Dhoni likes to keep his India team in a bubble, he does not acknowledge the grandness of things because he believes such an approach keeps them from performing at their best. WACA, Wankhede; Test, Twenty20 - they are all the same, or at least he tries to keep it that way until the games begin.

Yet in the middle of his press conference a day before the second Test of this series, Dhoni reminded the journalists: "Let's talk about Lord's. We all know the importance of Lord's." What irony.

This is, of course, Lord's. This is, of course, an important Test match, the second of a series that refused to take off in the first because of a drab pitch. But there was a reason Dhoni wanted to talk about Lord's.

This also involves two players who could be banned by the time the third Test starts. James Anderson could miss two to four, Ravindra Jadeja could miss one. They might not miss any. They might someday play for the same IPL team. They might even get into exhibition bouts once they are retired. One thing that will not emerge, however, is a boastful spat with two different versions such as in the altercation between Ian Chappell and Ian Botham.