Language barrier

MS Dhoni tilted the balance of the second Test match towards India's favor with an inspired bit of captaincy, capping a brilliant day at the office.

The day began with a total of 450-plus beckoning. Anything less and the Aussies would feel they had been let off the hook. Ganguly played within himself, essaying the role that Dravid has played so many times. However, just after he got to his 100 he threw it away, needlessly throwing caution to the winds. MS Dhoni was blazing away at the other end, taking on the Aussies as they tried to bounce him out. Four fours and a six in the backward of square-leg region showed the Aussies that Dhoni was willing to take them on. In the company of the tail-enders Dhoni took the score to 469 before Rudi Koertzen got him out with a horrible decision that looked not out even as the Aussies were appealing for an LBW.

Anyway, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma took out Hayden and Ponting, beautifully setting it up for Harbhajan Sigh and Amit Sharma to attack. Amit Mishra got a foruitous bounce to clean bowl Katich and the cat was among the pigeons. However, for India, there is a steel pigeon in the middle of the Aussie line-up - Michael Hussey. He survived two reprieves to steady the nerves in the Aussie dressing room along with Michael Clarke, who was playing an un-Clarke-like innings. The balance seemed to be tilting (not shifting just yet, but tilting nevertheless) towards the Aussies when Dhoni's captaincy broke through Clarke's resistance. More on that in a second.

I like Anil Kumble. I even like some aspects of his captaincy. But MS Dhoni is the better captain. More decisive, pro-active, aggressive, and constantly thinking ahead. Losing Kumble the bowler has been offset by gaining Dhoni the captain. When Katich and Hussey were at the crease he kept a leg gully for the former and a leg slip for the latter, effectively cutting off their favorite shot - the pressure-relieving single to fine-leg after walking across the stumps. He kept a short cover and a short midwicket in Ponting's eyeline, preventing him from thrusting his pad all the way down the wicket to negate the in-cutters of Sharma. With Dhoni captaining, there appears to be a spring in the step of everyone. Also, it is no coincidence that the over rate of the Indians in this Test is better than the over-rates of either team so far in the series.

But Dhoni's masterstroke was reserved for the last over of the day. Amit Mishra bowled three balls from over the wicket to Clarke. At which point Dhoni said, "Pair se dalna hai to is taraf se dal" (If you want to bowl on the legs, bowl from this side), gesturing round the wicket. Amit bowled another ball, a googly wide of the stumps from over the wicket. As soon as he collected the ball, Dhoni flung his left hand out and said, "Is taraf se dal" (bowl from this side, i.e. round the wicket). Dhoni then theatrically moved a fielder to leg gully as if to emphasize that the line was going to be outside the leg-stump. On TV, the commentators picked up on it, but Shastri was talking about bowling into the rough, a la Shane Warne. Mishra and Dhoni, while on a different plane of thought, luckily were on the same page - Mishra bowled a googly on the middle stump. Clarke had thrust his pad forward expecting a ball to pitch in the rough outside the leg-stump, and could not bring his bat down in time, and Asad Rauf had no problems adjudging him LBW. With that blow, the scales shifted firmly in India's favor. Maybe if Brett Lee, with his rapidly improving command of Hindi, was at the crease he may have been able to warn Clarke of the trap!

Australia still have a few batsmen left but I cannot see them surpassing 469 in this innings - India has 4 good bowlers to attack with. Even if India gets them all out before the follow-on is averted, I want (and I suspect Dhoni feels this way, too) India to bat again and put up a total beyond the reach of the Australians. Give them two days to bat out for a draw and keep a suffocating ring of fielders around the bat. Let's see how the Aussies respond when the shoe is on the other foot.

Dhoni is captaining his second Test and has shown no signs of a sophomoric slump so far. The future of Indian cricket is in great hands.