So, was Monty Mark II any different? Not significantly. His bowling on Wednesday, introduced as early as the ninth over - ahead of Swann - was still pretty mechanical. After early nerves, he settled into a reasonable rhythm, wheeling away on a persistent line and length, save the odd short ball, and got some response from the pitch. He was accurate.
Immediately after he grassed the caught-and-bowled chance from Mohammed Hafeez, he sent down a similar delivery which slid inside Hafeez’s bat as he played for a bit of non-existent turn. Panesar didn’t possess a reputable arm ball in his first incarnation with England, and, as he confessed on Wednesday night, this success was more by accident than design.
But he did produce one of the deliveries of the day: a beautifully flighted teaser, enticing the obdurate Misbah-ul-Haq into a drive which he edged as the ball spun sharply. Unfortunately the usually alert Jimmy Anderson was slow out of the blocks and didn’t lay a hand on it.
Maybe it was a sign, though. Perhaps it said that Monty Mark II will be more prepared to try something to get a wicket. In time we might see him vary his position on the crease, or scramble the seam in delivery to tempt and confuse.
It is a good time to be a spinner. Hawk-Eye and the Decision Review System have doubled the number of lbw verdicts they win and batsmen cannot just ‘kick’ away straight deliveries with impunity. But the penny is quickly dropping, and they are already evolving the way they play.
It was noticeable on Wednesday that Pakistan played everything with the bat, keeping pads out of the way, and avoiding the sweep. In future spinners will have to be cannier than just to plug away on the stumps and hope the batsman misses one. But as comebacks go, Panesar’s was solid and reassuring and there’s no shame in that.