One unusual dismissal turned the tide against us

After a pretty warm Day Two of the Chennai Test, it would be fair to say that the honours are with India. It was quite different at the end of the first day when, at 326 for three, we were definitely in the box seat. There is still some way to go in the Test and we will try our best to turn things around once again tomorrow.

The way our middle order caved in was quite disappointing this morning. If one goes through the replays it is obvious that we got ourselves out with some ordinary shots. We are now working on the fact that we are losing wickets together and usually in one particular session. These are pitches on which getting set is tough, but once that is achieved, runs can be scored.

Even those who have scored looked a little shaky at the start and had to survive some anxious moments before they got going. This is why Steve Waugh went all out to attack once we had dismissed Ramesh. However, since both Das and Laxman survived some good bowling from us, we went back and started to try and keep the runs down.

The secret to bat on this wicket is to get in, get set and then try and score. Ricky and Adam missed out in the first innings, and since the next innings will be the last Test innings we will have for some time, they will be eager to make amends.

Going by my own short stint at the wicket, it is still a pretty good track to bat on. While it will take more spin as the sessions go by, it's not overly difficult to bat on just yet.

At this stage we would like to dwell on the positives that have emerged from the game so far. The foremost among these is the knock by Matthew Hayden. It was a great effort in very challenging conditions, and the team got to 391 largely because of his innings. There are some experts who feel that Haydos should also be retained for the one-dayers, but nothing has been decided on that front just yet because the one-day side has pretty much been picked. The only area of uncertainty is concerning Andrew Symonds’ fitness. His fitness report is due and it would be interesting to see whether Haydos will be retained if Symonds has to opt out of the one-dayers.

Steve too was looking quite good and was out in a very unusual manner. Haydos thought the ball was going to hit the stumps and called out to Steve, who instinctively flicked it away. He knew he was gone as soon as he touched the ball. It is unfortunate that one unusual dismissal turned the tide against us.

However, it shows that it just takes one ball to trigger a collapse. Tomorrow morning we will be trying to bowl that ball. It’s reversing quite a bit out there and by the looks of it both Jason and I will bowl a lot more overs tomorrow than we did today.

There is quite a bit of curiosity about Shane’s haircut. Basically Michael Slater wanted one and then Shane too volunteered. Jason said that if Shane would go ahead with it, so would he. He must have thought that Shane would opt out at the last minute, but when he didn’t he decided to stick to his word. I have decided against a new look myself, especially after I sounded out my wife and she vetoed the idea.

- Gameplan

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