Mass mood swings while watching cricket are a very South Asian characteristic. Up in heaven one moment, six feet deep the next. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankans - we are like that only.

So when on Friday Bangladesh were 166 for 8 with 60 runs and 10 overs to go and spectators gave up and started to walk off, no one found it odd.

But more fool those who sidled off because the ninth wicket put on the needed runs and Bangladesh handed England another tedious little defeat in the subcontinent.

There was a time when we used to do that too. Except on one memorable occasion — the India-Australia Titan Cup match at Bangalore in 1996 when India too were 50-odd runs short with two wickets in hand, chasing 215.

Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath were at the crease for the ninth wicket and the crowd stayed on, even when defeat looked imminent. After all, two local lads were at the crease and simple parochialism even - if nothing else - required them to stay on and wait for the axe to fall.

In the end Kumble and Srinath got the runs, cheered on by Kumble's mother and grandmother. The two old ladies have embedded themselves firmly in the national consciousness.

Australia couldn't quite believe that they had been bested by a couple of bowlers. Unlike England, they are not conditioned to lose though they seem to be getting there now.

But that match was memorable for another reason as well: Azharuddin's LBW verdict at the hands of umpire S.K. Bansal, which sent the crowd into a fit after Azhar was seen protesting in a very uncharacteristic way.

A riot was narrowly averted and it took around 25 minutes to get the match going again. Then, after a long stay, Tendulkar got out. India still needed 52.

And then, Kumble and Srinath made Kannadiga history.

They batted calmly - mostly anyway - just as the two Bangladeshi tail-enders did on Friday.

No panic, rotate the strike and when the chance came, whack!

Never did schadenfreude – pleasure over someone else's discomfiture – feel so good. And even better that that someone else was England.

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