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India 257/7

Prem Panicker

In a remarkable -- and, for Indian fans, rare -- display of resilience, the home team weathered two periods of uncertainity to end day three on 324 for seven, given them a cumulatiive lead of 404 with three wickets in hand.

Will this do? Does the high Indian score indicate that the pitch is easing out? Will Pakistan be able to mount a viable chase?

These are questions that the day's play threw up -- but we will get to them in due season. Follows, the review of the day's proceedings, broken down session to session.

First session:

When the drinks trolley came out signalling the end of the first hour on the morning of the third day, India had gone from its overnight score of 46/1 to 100/1, having added 54 runs in the session.

The session was completely dominated by the bat, thanks to a changed attitude from the Indian batsmen to that which has marked their play thus far on this tour.

Where the tendency has been to play Saqlain as if he were a magician, both Ramesh and Dravid came out this morning looking very very positive -- especially in their willingness to seek singles at every possible opportunity.

The wicket is turning but turning slowly -- so the Indians adopted the policy of playing very late and guiding the ball into the gaps for singles. This meant that Saqlain had to try flighting and landing the ball further up -- at which the batsmen promptly came fully forward, driving with the full flourish.

Umpire Jayaprakash produced one dodgy decision during this spell, though -- Younis straightened one, got Ramesh on the pad in front of off and middle as the batsman tucked his bat behind pad, there was a huge and absolutely justified appeal, the batsman was in front of off and middle, but the appeal was turned down.

Against the run of play, however, the first ball after drinks produced the breakthrough. Saqlain floated one just outside off. Dravid, who had been playing straight till that point, tried to loft it over midwicket with the pull-sweep, hit too hard at it, got the top edge and the ball ballooned for slip to hold behind the keeper's back.

Dravid had played with ease through the first hour, an off drive off Mushtaq Ahmed being hailed by the commentators in the box as the shot of the match. His dismissal owed to bad shot selection -- the fact that he of all people attempted to drag the ball from outside off however indicating the mindset of the side during the morning session.

That brought Sachin Tendulkar to the wicket, and the second hour of play proved a total contrast to the first. A mere 26 runs came off it, to take India in to lunch at 126/2.

If you were to find a way to describe the events of the second hour's play, it would be to call it a triumph of hype over matter -- the hype relating to this whole Sachin versus Saqlain thing the media has been building up.

Saqlain 3, Sachin 0, was a media headline at the end of the Indian first innings. Which seems a touch over the top, really -- Saqlain got him off a wild shot in the first innings in Madras, Sachin responded with a century in the second, and was out to a bad decision in the first innings here. Which doesn't quite make it the no-contest it was supposed to be.

However, the fact that such hype can get to the best was evident in the exaggerated caution with which Sachin squared up to the offie. The same bowler, who was handled with ease in the first hour by Dravid and Ramesh, suddenly looked unplayable as Sachin took to stretching well forward (making you wonder what that was doing to his dodgy back), and playing with bat behind pad.

It took Sachin 26 deliveries -- most of them sent down by Saqlain -- to get off the mark, the first run coming off a light push to mid on off that bowler.

Such exaggerated defence sometimes produces the fatal mistake, but things got into more of a perspective towards the end of the session. An exquisite on drive, a paddle-sweep (the shot that got Sachin LBW in the first innings) and an immaculate off drive brought Sachin 11 runs off three Saqlain deliveries, and the real battle seemed on.

Ramesh, meanwhile, impressed with his temperament. The hallmark of his innings was patience and Test-match temperament. Thus, when he was on 60, he had faced 117 deliveries. And 97 of them had not been scored off, while he also had 9 fours to his name. Figures that indicate that he was content to defend to good deliveries, but able to take full toll of the slightest variation in line and length on the part of the bowler.

On email, I was asked to describe his batting technique, for the benefit of fans who can't see the action live. Okay -- the southpaw has an easy stance and a relaxed air at the crease. His backfoot play is impeccable -- good to see really, since an opener who can't play off the back foot is a liability on a quick, bouncy track. On the front foot, he does move easily to the spinners, but against quick bowlers, he has this slight tendency to not get right to the pitch, meaning he is playing with the bat a shade away from the body.

That need not be a black mark, really -- Ganguly to quote one instance does it all the time. Ramesh, further, strokes easily on both sides of the wicket, and though on this track he hasn't been tested with the line into his body, he diid get a few of those in Madras and handled them with assurance. One last thought on his batting would be that he is very alert to the single.

Post-lunch session

In the first half hour of the afternoon, both Sachin and Ramesh looked in prime touch, getting runs with deft pushes and the occasional harder hit as the bowlers erred in length.

However, a major cause for concern emerged as Tendulkar came out to bat with a thick therapeutic pad worn tight around the waist, indicating that his back was increasingly causing pain.

In any case, the handicap showed most clearly in his front foot play, his foot not really extending far enough to the pitch, obviously the batsman not trying to push himself or overstrain the back.

Wisdom and the long term interests of Indian cricket dictate that he be rested now, rather than run the risk of his back packing up completely, necessitating a longer absence from the game. Whether the board will be wise enough is of course the million dollar question -- with the World Cup round the corner, it does seem imperative that the star batsman be rested, and treated, immediately.

Mushtaq eventually got the wicket, with a floater on middle and off that Sachin tried to hit over mid on. The ball stopped a bit on him, inducing the mishit down the throat of the fielder there.

Ramesh meanwhile continued to look good out there. His mother recounts that the Tamil Nadu southpaw is a lover of Paal-payasam -- milk pudding, to the uninitiated. Apparently, when he is playing in Madras and gets some runs under his belt, he calls home from the ground and asks his mother to make his favourite sweet.

Indications were that he would call for a mega helping of the sweet after getting to a century at the Kotla. However, the tension of nearing that first century in Tests got the better of him, resulting in a soft dismissal that had the left-handed opener walking off near tears.

Mushtaq bowled a full toss on off, Ramesh came onto the front foot and the way he played a ball that could have been put away anywhere on the ground indicated that perhaps he had gribbed the bat too hard in his tension. The drive with the overtight grip managed to merely float it right back to Mushie in the tamest of caught and bowled dismissals -- Ramesh leaving just a boundary short of that ton.

The dismissal also triggered a slide of sorts. Akram took Mushtaq -- who, well as he bowled, lived up to the leg spinner's reputation of being expensive -- off and brought himself on. The first ball was a loosener outside off from Akram, Azhar rocked back to launch a hard cut at it, hit it too hard and managed to drag it back, off the inner edge, onto his stumps.

The next ball was a stunner -- a late reverse-inswinger that caught Mongia's pad on the forward push, plumb in line with the stumps and no doubt whatsoever to get the benefit of.

Akram was on a hat-trick and promptly produced a viciously swinging yorker to Kumble that the batsman managed to get down to in the last split second -- the pace of the ball powering it straight back past the bowler for four.

Incidentally, with the wicket of Mongia, Akram becomes the highest wicket taker for Pakistan in Tests, his 363 wickets in 85 Tests beating the 362 by Imran off 88 Tests.

India went in to tea with Ganguly batting 14, Kumble batting 13, and the team score at 220/6, the lead exactly 300 at this point. India after lunch had added 94, off 26 overs, for the loss of four wickets.

Final session

Saqlain Mushtaq took out Kumble shortly after tea, going round the wicket to get the edge from the bat as he pushed forward, the drift across the right hander doing the damage. India at that point were 231/7.

Had Pakistan been allowed to break through and bowl India out under 250, the game could have swung back in the visiting side's favour.

As it turned out, however, Srinath and Ganguly produced a superb, unbeaten partnership of 93 that firmly shut the door in the fielding side's face, and brought India into an ideal position to push for a win.

Ganguly was controlled elegance, dancing down the wicket to loft Saqlain over long off for a six, then repeating that waltz to lift Mushtaq straight back over the bowler's head for the maximum. Very watchful in defence, he also played his usual quota of drives through the off.

Srinath, meanwhile, played with immense application -- very defensive, playing as late as he possibly could to the spinners, but not missing out on a single opportunity to go for the big hit when the bowlers erred in line and length.

Pakistan had two chances in this period. With the score on 232/7, Akram drew Ganguly forward, then beat him with a lovely late awayswinger, finding the edge for Moin to dive, get a glove to it and let it through.

At 316/7, Srinath launched a fierce drive back at Afridi, the bowler getting both hands to it but failing to cling on -- the way he wrung his hands after an indication of how much power had gone into that hit.

In any case, Pakistan at this point are 404 behind -- and in its Test history, 315 is the highest it has chased in the last innings to win.

The situation brings up the questions mentioned earlier. First, has the pitch eased? Not really -- it has gotten slower, but the 13 byes the hapless Moin gave away are an accurate reflector of how difficult the track has played, the odd ball keeping low, another kicking up, and providing the bowlers with prodigious turn when they found the roughs at either end.

So how did the Indian batsmen get runs? Patience, really: if you look at the card, you will find an inordinate number of dot balls against the name of each batsman. You will also find a great number of boundaries, given this is a Test. The Indians figured out the way to play on tracks like this -- not too difficult actually, considering this is the kind of track they are bred on. When the length was slightly on the short side, they rocked right back, let it turn, then played it out. Pakistan needed to attack, which meant the bowlers then tried pitching further up -- at which they would launch the free-flowing drives, to the slightest error in line.

Saqlain and Mushtaq are admittedly among the greatest practitioners of spin today -- but they did bowl 69 overs between them, and you can't do that, attacking all through, without giving away a few bad ones. The Indians to their credit never failed to capitalise.

That brings up the question of target, and declaration. And frankly, I would love to see the Indians bat on for another 15, 18 overs tomorrow before inviting Pakistan to have a go.

404 sounds an impossible task -- but it pays to remember that there are 180 overs to go in this Test. And it is a fair assumption that the Indian bowlers will be as prodigal with the bad balls as Saqlain and Mushie were -- so if India can bat patiently, there is no reason Pakistan can't, too.

When you are set 400 to get in 180 overs, you tend -- especially with a line up that reads Afridi, Anwar, Inzamam, Malik, Ijaz and Youhanna, all attacking players and good against spin -- to think you can do it.

Ask them to score 430, say, off 150 overs, and you figure to get there, you have to take risks on this dodgy tracks, that could be dangerous, so you tend to go in with a defensive frame of mind.

And a defensive frame of mind is just what India would want Pakistan to be in, when they walk out to bat -- because no matter how good a player of spin you are, there is no way you are going to survive 150 overs defending on this track, that number being way above what either of the two teams have lasted thus far.

It also gives India the luxury of not really worrying about the odd boundary, of being able to put the field up and attack throughout.

So hey, having got the Pakistan side on the mat, why not turn the screws right and tight?

SECOND DAY'S MATCH REPORT:
SCOREBOARD

The Comeback Kid

FIRST DAY'S MATCH REPORT:
Snake charmers... and Saqlain Mushtaq

Commentary Transcript:
• Day 3: First Hour
• Day 2: Last Hour,Fifth Hour, Fourth Hour, Third Hour, Second Hour, First Hour
• Day 1: Last Hour, Fifth Hour, Fourth Hour, Third Hour, Second Hour, First Hour