Visible from afar

Ricky Ponting begins another series with a century. The newspapers are full of reports of how he has conquered his demons and has solved the Indian mystery. Sleep-inducing, really. I had predicted this a few weeks ago and watching him put together another century did not surprise me one bit.

Ponting is in that stage of his career where he is almost completely in control of what he wants to do. The only bowler to trouble him was Ishant Sharma. Ishant has come a long way, and hopefully, he will continue to keep going further. Do not get fooled by Ishant's career stats, his bowling is a lot more penetrative than that. Once Ponting survived Ishant (and yes, Ponting survived Ishant) the century was his for the taking.

For a few years, while Shane Warne prowled the scenes, the umpires began adjudging LBW's when the batsman was on the front foot, too. It appears that they have gone back to the old days again. There were at least two good shouts by Kumble that would have gone Warne's way. Sometimes, I wish Kumble would be more theatrical, like Warne was, full of oohs and aahs, and anguished looks at the umpire who had the temerity to refuse an appeal of his.

But I digress. The day belonged, front and center, to Ponting. I think it helped that he had to play 12 overs of fast bowling before the spinners came on. It settled him down. When Harbhajan's first ball was bowled down the leg-side, Ponting flicked him for a boundary and did not look back after that. He'll be disappointed at having gotten out as the Australians are not out of the woods yet. 254 runs in 90 overs is slow going, and they do not have enough runs on the board (yet) to make the Indians sweat.

As of now, odd as it sounds, the advantage is India's. But until they come back on the field for the second day's action, think about Ponting, and the fact that he is now within breathing distance of Tendulkar on the centuries list. A brilliant batsman at the peak of his powers. Australia's fate in this series rests on his shoulders. Beware Kumble!