You've got to admire the heck out of the lights at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore -- as the television cameras panned over them, they sure looked a pretty sight, nice and tall pylons with proudly arched necks, bearing their complement of brightly shining halogen lamps, all brought to you by Manikchand.
But hey, what use are they? It is this question that struck you with most force, as you watched players troop on and off the ground, on a day when play started late and what little there was, was characterized by the Indian openers plundering in installments. What I don't get is this: The ICC says play is possible under lights. These lights at the Gaddafi Stadium are, presumably, to facilitate day-night matches -- in other words, were it 8 pm in Lahore, and there was no ambient light at all, play should still be possible. No? So why, with the lights blazing down, do umpires need to switch them off, look at their light meters, and decide the light is not good enough for play?
Sorry, I don't get it.
What I do get is the value of crowds at a cricket match -- it is just no fun without you, people. Yesterday, as Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf came out to start play in attack mode, the first five overs disappeared for 28 runs -- and there was noise and celebration and applause everywhere; even the commentators couldn't stop marveling.
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It was all Sehwag. An on driven four in the first over of the day, and an upper cut off an Akthar bouncer in the second, ensured that by the time Akthar began his second over, the close field had been whittled down from the four slips and a gully of yesterday evening and to one slip and one gully -- an amazing sight, for the world's fastest bowler bowling in a Test match against 675 runs.
The pitch remained benign; the real challenge for the Indians was negotiating the light, and the extra pace of the Pak speedsters. That pace is notional on a track like this was demonstrated by Sehwag when, to a delivery from Sami outside off, the batsman shaped to slap it over point, changed his mind, let the ball come on a bit more, and finessed it down to backward point. An almost identical length and line, next ball, and Sehwag opted to stand on his hind legs and slam a drive on the up through extra cover.
The Pakistan bowlers again erred on the side of length. It did look good when the short stuff made Sehwag weave and duck and Dravid avoid the line -- but all that the short stuff did really was allow the batsmen to get their eye in better. It was only in the very brief session after lunch that Sami and Akthar tightened their length and line -- but the damage by then had already been done.
The first hour of play produced 65 runs off 11 overs. Virender Sehwag scored 46 of them off 40 deliveries with 10 fours; Dravid, content to keep his end up, made 14 off 30 with two fours. Almost immediately after the drinks break, the players went off for light. Lunch was taken early, light still had not improved, and when they finally came out to bat, it was for an even shorter session that saw 13 runs being scored in three overs -- all of them by Virender Sehwag, who evidently loves the way the ball is going off the bat so much, he faced the first delivery after lunch, never mind that he had also faced the last delivery before it.
With India 145/0 in 28 overs (Virender Sehwag 96/89 with an astonishing 20 boundaries; Dravid 37/84 with 5 fours), bad light forced players off the park and rain kept them in the hut while the covers came out. On the day, India added 80 runs in 15 overs; Sehwag contributed 60 of those in 54 deliveries with 13 fours; Dravid 15 in 40 deliveries with two boundaries successive clips off the pads through midwicket off Rana Naved in the first session of play.
From an Indian viewpoint, the one good thing about the day's now off, now on play is the positivism of its response. Confronted with huge totals, India has more often than not tended to get into a defensive mode; one, incidentally, that has often led to its downfall. Here, they've been blazing away from the get-go, almost as if the enormity of the ask just didn't matter. After the battering of the first two days, a message of that emphatic nature needed to go out, both to India's own bowlers (who must, after watching the much faster Pak pace trio being tamed, feel less put upon) and to the opposition.
Small consolation, but heck, you are lucky you can spot even that silver lining in a day of unrelieved gloom.
PS: For other comments, made through the course of play, check sightscreen.rediffiland.com
