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Even steven after two days

The lazy brilliance of opener Sadakopan Ramesh, a superlative spell of quick bowling by Shoaib Akthar, and at the end of it all, the second day's play ended with both teams deadlocked as far as the game situation stands.

Actually, deadlock would be a good word to use in more ways than one -- bad light ended play with Pakistan 26/1 in the second innings -- the exact score India was on at that point last evening.

There were 80,000 people at the Gardens, in Calcutta, yesterday -- today, a good 20,000 more joined them in anticipation of a good Indian batting performance.

The morning session gave the fans much to cheer about as Ramesh in particular continued a dream run with the bat, getting to his third successive Test 50 with attractive strokeplay.

What makes this young lad a difficult proposition for opposing sides is not so much his batting ability as an aggressive temperament, an unwillingness to get into a shell no matter what the situation -- he shrugs off the odd occasion when he is beaten, and never fails to take full toll of any ball that is there to be hit. Another plus is that he is equally fluent off his pads, so there really is no area where you can bowl to him and keep him quiet.

From the first over of the second morning, thus, he was on the lookout for runs, two flowing coverdrives with minimal power and perfect timing, both off the back foot, taking India to 50 off just 92 deliveries, a cracking pace for a Test match.

He was equally severe on Shoaib Akthar, clipping him repeatedly off his pads as the quick bowler strayed in line. And at the other end, Anil Kumble, with a balanced mix of defence and aggression in the face of a barrage of short-pitched deliveries, kept him good company.

Whatever life there is in the pitch is available only in the first hour, thus it was imperative that the overnight not outs bat through that crucial phase. To their credit, they did it in style, weathering hostile spells by both Akram and Akthar.

The 50 of the second wicket partnership between Kumble and Ramesh came off just 70 deliveries.

With the score at 73/1, a brief loss of concentration saw Ramesh tamely guiding one from Akram to point -- but that was one of many no balls the Pakistan captain bowled this morning (nine, and counting, at the time of writing this), his first five overs of the day going for 30 runs.

The Pakistan bowlers made the mistake of going for pace, rather than focussing on length and movement as the Indians had on the first morning. This meant that the ball merely flew off the bat faster -- and though Pakistan began with an aggressive field of three slips, gully and silly point, the flow of runs and the lack of a good first innings total meant that Pakistan couldn't keep up the aggression for too long.

Anil Kumble's resolute innings however ended with his personal score on 18, when he fished at one outside off from Azhar Mahmood that didn't get up much, the edge finding Moin Khan with ease. He had, however, done his job, partnering Ramesh in a 61-run stand for the second wicket that provided the middle order with a good platform to build on. India at that point were 91/2.

Shortly after Dravid's arrival at the crease, Ramesh eased to his 50 with a fluent clip off his pads, his 52 coming off just 100 balls faced at that point, with eight boundaries.

Dravid and Ramesh then shut shop, playing out time to lunch, while Pakistan for its part relied on the wicket to wicket, seam up stuff of Azhar Mahmood and the off spin of Saqlain Mushtaq to stem the flow of runs.

The morning session produced 77 runs off 24 overs, for the loss of just the night watchman -- which made it a very good session for the home team.

With the wicket easing off, runs should be easier still to come by in the afternoon, provided the not out batsmen take their time to settle in and weather the initial assault from Akram. The Pakistan captain was very wayward this morning, going for 33 off just six overs, but with the ball getting older, he should be getting his trademark reverse swing in the second session, and could be the real dangerman for India if he is allowed to settle into a good spell.

Afternoon session

Dravid and Ramesh took their own time to settle in, in the afternoon session, with Akram and Saqlain opening the bowling for Pakistan.

Once their eye was in, however, both batsmen settled in to play in perfect harmony with the conditions, watchful to deliveries on good line and length, and punishing to anything loose.

Akram continued to have problems with his front foot, his no ball tally moving to 12 and negating some good bowling. Saqlain, meanwhile, was handled very well by Dravid in particular, with a succession of square drives, glances and flicks through midwicket to force the bowler off his length. The 50 run partnership came up in this phase, off 148 balls, and when drinks were taken, Dravid was batting on 24 and Ramesh was looking rock solid on 74, India 145/2 and just five runs away from its first batting bonus point.

The first over after drinks, however, proved to be one of the most outstanding exhibitions of pure pace bowling seen in a long while.

Shoaib Akthar produced, out of nowhere, a superb inswinging yorker, the ball holding a line around off, swinging in very very late, Dravid completely beaten for pace and movement as the ball went through his defenses to take out his leg peg.

That brought Tendulkar to the crease, to a roar from the crowd. And Akthar outdid himself with what, from a batsman's point of view, was nothing less than a ball out of hell. This one started outside off, swung in very very late, and Tendulkar, who seemed to expect a short pitched delivery, was completely beaten for both the sheer pace, and the very late inswing, the ball landing in the blockhole and going on to send the middle stump cartwheeling.

That made the first time in his career that Tendulkar was out off the first ball he faced in a Test innings, and it took a dream delivery to do it.

Akthar, however, looked to be tiring after that over, his next one not having the fire and sting of his wicket-taking over. Akram brought himself on, and immediately ended Ramesh's long vigil.

The left-handed opener appeared to be lapsing in concentration after the fall of those two wickets, and here he played with both feet anchored in place to a ball of fuller length, pitching off and darting in off the seam, beating the bat for pace and movement to take the pad. Ramesh looked unhappy, indicating he had played it -- but on the replay, the ball had clearly missed the bat, a good decision by Umpire Orchard ending another superb innings by the elegant opener.

Besides strokeplay out of the top draw and a temperament to match, Ramesh yet again showed an ability to bat on after getting set, his occasional lapses in concentration seemingly the one chink in his batting armour.

From then on, it was Azhar and Ganguly, gritting it out in the face of some hostile bowling from Akram while, at the other end, Azhar Mahmood kept a tight rein with a good wicket to wicket line, India going through to tea at 174/5.

Post tea session

Saqlain Mushtaq had, till after tea, bowled a mere 10 overs in the innings. A climbing overrate meant he had to come back on, and the offie struck in his first over, tossing one up. There was lots of loop on the ball, which meant that Ganguly misread the flight, went forward where he could have gone back, and ended up watching as the ball dropped short of the bat, bounced, took the maker's name high up and went to Akram at slip.

In the very next over, Akram struck with the first ball of a new spell. Azhar has an incredible record at the Eden Gardens, an average of 136.16 at the venue he made his debut on, with five Test centuries and two fifties out of 8 Tests. Here, though, he seemed off colour, being distinctly lucky on a couple of occasions to avoid playing on, and ended up with a soft dismissal, playing an airy shot with no foot-movement to speak of, at a loosener way wide of off, to hit the ball tamely into the hands of the cover fielder.

Another nothing ball took out Srinath shortly thereafter, when Akram bowled a short one outside leg, the ball sliding past the batsman. Srinath fended at it and managed to glove it for Moin Khan to hold well down the leg side, reducing India to 211/8.

Akram brought back Akthar, and the inswinging yorker that got through the defences of Dravid and Tendulkar was on song again, this time taking out Prasad's off stump. Akthar, for the trivia-minded, has thus got Dravid leg stump, Tendulkar middle, and Prasad off, with the identical delivery, in this innings.

India needed to get to 225 to qualify for the second batting point. A desperate attempt to take a second run had Moin producing an acrobatic take and throwing down the stumps to catch Mongia out of his ground and end the Indian innings on 222.

This meant that India and Pakistan end the game level on bonus points, with five apiece. There are no points on offer for the second innings, strangely enough, so now there is only the 12 points for the outright win to play for, for both sides.

Pakistan began its reply with the debutant, Wasti, partnering Anwar -- Afridi's hit or miss style of play, and his problems against Srinath, obviously prompting the move.

The third over of the innings should have had Pakistan in big trouble, as Srinath made one lift and seam away from Anwar. The opener, visibly low on confidence, was reaching for it and managed only to get the outer edge. Azhar, at first slip, however reacted late, then dived, got his hands to a regulation catch and grassed it.

Play from that point on had a scrappy quality to it. The Indian bowlers appeared unhappy with the ball, asking for it to be changed after pretty much every delivery, but umpires Bucknor and Orchard had other ideas.

That seemed to produce a certain irritability among the Indians, and some wayward bowling though, to their luck, neither the off form Anwar nor the ill at ease Wasti capitalised.

Out of the blue, Srinath made one jump up at Wasti and cut back in off the seam, the batsman -- who tends to square up and thus bring on the possiblity of edging behind -- waved his bat at it and Mongia, diving way to his left, too a blinder off the glove to send back the first Pakistan wicket.

This 'friendship series' has been a bit of a misnomer at least on the field of play, with lots of hot words being exchanged by the rival players. More of the same occurred as Saqlain Mushtaq walked out in the guise of nightwatchman -- an angry exchange that saw the off spinner raise his bat at an indeterminate target among the Indian players, to an angry roar from the Calcutta crowd, before Anwar came across and cooled him off.

Prasad then produced a beauty, beating Anwar. The huge appeal for caught behind was turned down, quite rightly, by Orchard -- who then wagged a warning finger at Mongia who appeared to have said something that was not quite 'howzaaat'.

Shortly thereafter, the umpires offered the light to the batsmen, ending the day's play with things all square.

Or is it? The pitch has eased into a bit of a beauty, though there should be some life early on in the morning. However, there is a large crack at one end which should widen over the next couple of days, and when the ball lands on it, it is anyone's guess where it will go -- not the kind of situation that makes batting last on this one a prospect to look forward to.

The report wont be complete without a word of praise for the Pakistan bowlers. There really was nothing in the second day pitch, for them -- what they used, and used brilliantly, was pace through the air, and that incredible late inswing, to break the back of India's batting just when it looked like the home side would run away with the game.

Pakistan in fact would have been even better placed, but for what appears to be an epidemic of overstepping -- an astonishing number of no balls were sent down, gifting away extras a side with just 185 on the board could ill afford.

Now, it is up to India to restrict Pakistan to as low a total as possible. Chasing anything above the 225 mark on this track, in the last innings, is not exactly a prospect to relish -- so yet again, it would seem up to the bowlers to deliver. And what would interest me, frankly, is to see Kumble come on from the end Prasad used in the second innings -- that gives him the crack to aim at, around the good length spot, and that could lead to some interesting developments.

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