Still in celebration after the 3-0 series victory and its confirmed rise to the top of Test cricket, England named an unchanged squad for the fourth Test scheduled to begin next Thursday at the Oval in London.
With Jonathan Trott yet to recover fully from the shoulder injury he sustained at Trent Bridge, Ravi Bopara will get another chance to impress the England selectors. He was perhaps the only cricketer not to enjoy the third Test, in which England outplayed India.
“We've not had everything our own way in this series,” England captain Strauss said after the victory. “We've dominated this Test in particular, but there were times in the first two when we were behind. But as often happens, confidence becomes a factor in the second half of a series, and we've become more confident as we've gone on, and used that in our favour.
“In your own conditions you've got to back yourself to beat anyone, especially if you want to be the best in the world. We've achieved that through a lot of guys standing up and delivering when it matters.”
Asked about becoming No.1, Strauss said: “This series is very much about measuring ourselves against the best in the world, and hopefully having the opportunity to overtake them. We're very proud of the way we've performed in the last three games — we've been very close to our best, so we are very satisfied with what we've achieved and delighted to have gone to No. 1 ourselves.”
He did sound a word of caution, however. “I don't think this is an end in itself,” he said. “Just bear in mind there are a number of other teams anxious to have this mantle to be the No. 1 side.
“So I think it's arrogant for us to just waltz our way and assume everything's going to be hunky-dory all the time. We have to get our competitive juices flowing in any series we play, because if your goal is to play good cricket, the rankings will look after themselves.”
England squad: Andrew Strauss (capt.), Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, and Steve Finn.