Afzaal during his stylish 54 against Australia

Of particular excellence were the front foot drives, played with such immaculate timing that there was no hint of a follow-through, with the batsman holding the shot in place to trigger the spitting fury of messrs Gillespie, Lee and McGrath.

There is, without question, a hint of arrogance about this confident 24-year-old.

He says, without any shade of modesty: "You may have heard I'm a good player of spin and I'm naturally very talented."

This from the player who Shane Warne comprehensively bowled through the gate at Edgbaston.

Tough test

It was Afzaal's first Test innings and he had made four. But a debut against Warne and McGrath is as harsh an examination as it gets and one should not scold him too much for that.

Trapped lbw by Jason Gillespie for two in the second innings as England plummeted to defeat by an innings and 118 runs, Afzaal was discarded for the second and third Tests.

But with the Ashes lost, he returned for the final two matches. He hit 14 and four not out at Headingley, then finally came good with 54 at the Oval.

If there are, for now, holes in his technique, he certainly seems dedicated enough.

"I've been training every day since the summer to get ready for the tour to India to get physically fit," he says.

Clive Rice is credited with bringing Afzaal on

"I knew at one point the tour might not go ahead but professionally I always had to tell myself that I was going to travel to India with England.

"There was a time when I thought maybe we shouldn't go ahead but when we had the meeting with the British High Commission from India a lot of questions were answered.

"I sat down with my family, talked things over and decided to go."

Born in Pakistan, Afzaal is a Muslim. The second Test is in Ahmedabad, where communal trouble involving Muslims and Hindus has broken out in the past.

And recently Muslims have taken to the streets, burnt the British flag and called for a boycott of US-made goods to protest against the strikes in Afghanistan.

But Afzaal does not want to be drawn into a debate about the issue.

He says: "I'm going to India to represent England, and that's all there is to it."

Pakistan visit

It will be his first visit to the country, although he was back in his native Pakistan last winter coaching a group of young Asian cricketers on a tour from England.

He is clearly raring to go. "I'm a positive cricketer but India is a different type of place and there will be some sort of a game plan that is different to the way we played against Australia."

But for now, he intends to play with the same sort of gusto that has reaped such fine rewards for him at Nottinghamshire, where the arrival of Clive Rice as coach has been crucial in his development.

Afzaal also has the ability to bowl decent slow left-arm spin, and that may well have had a bearing on his inclusion in the touring squad.

Given the chance to play, and the odd dose of luck, he could yet have a major impact in India.