Open letter to the Indian team

To: Indian Cricket team - Test edition
Date:  Day 2, Test 1 - India-West Indies, November 2011

Dear friends,

After watching most of the first two days of the first Test match against West Indies, here's what I have to say to each of you:

Gautam Gambhir:  Get out of ODI mode.  Stop dabbing at the ball, trying to run it down to third man with 3 slips and 2 gullies waiting for the ball.  You are lucky you got to 41.  You not unlucky you got run-out.  You should have been out much sooner and, also, you were holding the bat in the wrong hand.  You got what you were courting.

Virender Sehwag:  We all see very clearly that you do not believe a spinner exists who is worth your time.  But still, you are a little too casual for your own good.  Having said that, I MUST say this - you rock!  Very few batsmen make a game's situation and the bowling seem as superfluous as you do.  When you were batting, 304 seemed a matter of time.  You got out and the pitch reverted to being a mental minefield.  Now, go and bat in the second dig with your foot inside the crease at all times.

Rahul Dravid:  Respect.  While you may be regretting the pull shot, I think it is a godsend.  The team needed a wake up call.  If you had brought the score close to the Windies total, it would have papered over the cracks.

Sachin Tendulkar: I have never seen any batsman look as guilty as you do when you are hit on the pads in front of the stumps.  My goodness, your body language takes away any semblance of doubt the umpire may have.  By the way, smart of you to have failed in the first inning.  Now the stage is set for you to hit a heroic century in the second inning while leading India to a win, a la Chennai a couple of years ago.  As your financial adviser no doubt told you - very strategically smart move.  (Of course, I jest when I say that...maybe).

(By the way, Sachin's aura is undiminished.  As soon as Sehwag got out, the BCCI.tv server crashed!  It was almost as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.)

VVS Laxman:  Are you close enough to that wall that you seem to always have your back against?  Now turn around and look closely.  There's some thing written on it - your future.  You play in just one of three teams for India.  And you land up after a long gap looking like you had a dozen too many extra sweets?  Really?  You can no longer afford to slide by with an inning here or there.  Like Dravid, you need to realize that what you have ahead of you are your last flashes of brilliance before the sun sets.  Lose that paunch, get into a little better shape.  Then maybe you wont look so leaden-footed when playing spinners.  When you inside-edged your 4th ball and it barely missed the leg-stump, in the process getting you off the mark, I though that (maybe) luck was in your favor.  Well, guess what?  You got out off the next ball you faced to a routine ball outside the off-stump from a leg-spinner in the first over of his spell.  Gah!!  Virant Kohli cannot be denied much longer and I don't think he is looking at Yuvraj's spot anymore.

Yuvraj Singh:  Right attitude, right way of playing.  Don't fret.  You were doing the right thing, the execution was slightly awry.  Just retain that attitude, and you'll be fine.

MS Dhoni:  Just pretend you are playing an ODI, for crying out loud.  You got out to Darren Sammy.  Think about that.  You played Finn, Bresnan, Anderson, Broad, Swann and didn't get out and then you get out to Sammy.  Darren Sammy.  Has it sunk in yet?

R. Ashwin:  The second inning was made for you.  You bowled well in the first inning, but I'd like you to pitch the ball up a little closer to the batsmen, giving them less of a chance to play you off the pitch.  Now that you are bowling with the new ball, go forth and prosper.

Ishant Sharma:  You remind me of Jason Gillespie.  And in my book that is a good thing.  Keep your chin up, the rewards will follow.

Umesh Yadav:  Not much to say to you.  The pitch isn't really tailor-made for you.  But you can learn something from the way Fidel Edwards persevered, in spite of being hammered around the ground.

Pragyan Ojha:  You are the Wizard of Ozha.  Give Sunil Gavaskar a few more days and he will come up with that nickname.  Your bowling is just what was needed on this pitch.  Relentless probing on a stump-to-stump line with just a little bit of spin in either direction.  You grabbed your chance with both hands and the sound we hear is of the door swooshing as it starts to slam on Amit Mishra and, if Ashwin can continue to do well, Harbhajan Singh (who went wicketless in his recent Ranji game).

Sincerely
JQ

Spin it to win it

I had originally intended to give the India-Ireland match a miss until I was asked to take a peek at Kevin O'Brien. (More specifically, his heroics against England a few days ago). I am glad I stayed up all night and watched cricket, including the England-South Africa game (until I switched over to the India game with Amla and de Villiers cruising towards a regulation win).

Some things that stood out for me:

Out, damn'd spot!

(Associated Press 2010 - via CricInfo)

VVS Laxman did himself no favors on multiple fronts in the recently concluded India-Bangladesh Test. After gorging himself to an inning-steadying, match set-up-ing 69* on the previous day, he blotted his copybook by lunging for two catches to his left, one high and one low. In his defense he was closer to the wicket than most slip fielders should be because of the nature of sub-continental pitches but I have seen him take similar catches in the past.

To add insult to injury (no pun needs to be intended here), he also split the webbing of his left hand and left the field, requiring 10 stitches on that gash. To wit, he is not playing in the second Test and his availability for the South Africa series is in jeopardy. Somewhere east of Kolkata, Yuvraj Singh is breathing a little easier.

Rahul Dravid benefited from Laxman's absence by padding his catching stats and (don't look now) can scent the rarefied, never-before attained level of 200 Test catches.

It did not take long for Sreesanth to forget his vow and revert back to being Soursanth, when Mushfiqur Rahim was whaling away at him. Give your lip a rest and get back to bowling, Sreesanth. What an idiot.

The same goes for Zaheer Khan, too. I understand being aggressive and bowling plenty of bouncers. But if the Bangladesh team is really as ordinary as your stand-in captain proclaims, then you don't need to be swearing and taunting them. Grow up, ZAK.

Mushfiqur Rahim scored what is now becoming a typical innings in these times - the 4th innings one-man show for a pleasing but utterly insignificant century in a big loss. I thought that Mohammad Ashraful would be the one to do so, but he left after just creeping past his career average. The fellow averages an abysmal 22.91 but has already played 51 Tests! He truly is like an ईद का चाँद shining through once in a long while and bringing great joy when he does so.

I am sensing a very big century from Virender Sehwag in the second Test. He has been coasting into the 40's and 50's and getting out, seemingly hell-bent on proving something to Shakib Al Hasan. A good pep talk is in the offing from Gary Kirsten and with Gambhir keeping one eye out for another century, there may be very little batting time left for whomsoever comes in at #7 (surely, Yuvraj will be at #5 and Dhoni at #6). Will India play Dinesh Karthik at #7 or will they change the batting order to accommodate Murali Vijay? Either way, Krish Srikkanth has covered his bases. Poor Badrinath.

Sachin Tendulkar truly deserved the man of the match award. His innings received some press but not quite what it deserved. Strangely, I am convinced that if Dravid had played this innings, there would have been another set of tributes across the country about how Dravid is so important, integral, and underappreciated in the Indian team. For once, SRT did not get the press he usually gets. (Sriram Veera talked about this innings of SRT after Day 2, without emphatically making the thesis I put forward about Dravid).

Of mountains and meandering streams

Test 2: India Sri Lanka at Kanpur

The second day's play was notable for one thing: the mountain of runs that India piled up and the lack of enterprise shown in the last two hours while doing so. India powered along, as the day progressed, with Rahul Dravid surviving a streaky inner-edge to fine-leg to post his 28th century. He looked good for at least another 100 more when he was freakishly run-out while backing up to Herath.

Before that Sachin Tendulkar batted as if he were on a minefield, pinching singles here and there, content to pat away any ball that was not on the pads. Eventually it occurred to even him that he may run out of time and not get to a century, about the only motivation that goads him into action these days, it seems. Ajanta Mendis got a gift in the process.

VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh were untroubled through their association. Laxman was dropped by Herath every early on (which led to Dravid's unfortunate run-out) and passive-aggressively coasted to another 50, followed soon after by Yuvraj. By then it was getting apparent that India was going to declare an hour after tea. Knowing that this deadline loomed, rather than force the pace and make as many runs as possible, all the Indian batsmen batted for time. Consequently, Sangakkara and Herath woke up to the possibility of taking wickets and the left-armer quickly picked up a 5-fer that he can now throw in the critic's face, completely overshadowing the fact that up until the point he took his first wicket his analysis read: 26-1-109-0, and the Indian score was 613 for 4. He ended with 5 for 121 and walked off to a hero's welcome.

Dilshan gifted Zaheek Khan with a wicket off the first ball. Fret not, Dilshan, you will get a second chance to make runs in a day or two. The rest of the day was not for the highlight reel, except for the sorry display by Harbhajan Singh. Don't let the 7-3-9-0 analysis fool you. About three quarter of those balls were fired in fast and flat on the middle-leg stump line. I am ready for Harbhajan to be sent back to the Ranji Trophy to regain his old loop. Luckily he has two more days to sort it out...okay three, technically speaking.

Sri Lanka needs to be patient but cannot afford to be defensive. Be on the lookout for runs, get closer and closer to 450 and some of the bowlers (and fielders) will start going through the motions and let you off. A triple century is achievable for a batsman willing to pace himself accordingly. Good luck.

One last note. The best thing that happened for India was getting all out. This way, in 3 days time, MS Dhoni will not have to hear about how he spent too long to declare or did not score enough runs, depending upon the outcome. By taking matters out of India's hands, Sri Lanka actually worsened their chances of winning the match and played into India's favor.

Running diary - Day 4: Two-faced teams

This is a running diary that I will keep updating periodically with random thoughts as and when they occur during the day's play of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka being played at Ahmedabad (November 16-20, 2009). I shall keep it in chronological order so the latest additions will be at the tail end of the diary. Also, since this is being done on the fly, excuse the spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Running diary - Day 1: Dravid shows the way yet again

Running diary - Day 2: Dilshan to the forefront

Running diary - Day 3: Single-minded Sri Lanka

Day 4

There are three points I want to address before the day's play starts:

a) I have had a couple of folks ask me if the lack of success for the Indians is a sign that MS Dhoni's luck is running out and his captaincy is being exposed. I do not think that is the case at all. All through the Sri Lankan innings Dhoni has been varying his plans every few overs or so. He began by attacking, then moved into a semi-defensive mode after Dilshan was firing away, adjusted to Harbhajan's line and Mishra's length by tweaking his field. When he had an attacking field the bowlers, especially the two spinners, let him down badly. Even when he resorted to defensive fields he had the bowlers change their angles of attack (every bowler bowled both over and round the wicket during the course of the day), getting an extended spell from Mishara-Tendulkar from the Warne-line outside leg-stump spinning into the batsmen.

All the while, he has been pro-active and has not been shy about adjusting and trying things out. Even as the bowlers and fielders have dropped off, it has been more because of the lack of success of the plans than the fact that there are no plans.

b) Sometime after the first hour today, the TV commentators will begin their favorite parlor game - guessing when a captain will declare the innings closed. Commentators love to spend hours and hours talking about it (Arun lal, who is not in the team this time, loves this more than most). No matter when Sangakkara declares, it will not be the correct time to do so. But that will not be informed to us by the commentators until after the 5th day's play is completed.

c) Russel Arnold made a telling comment yesterday. Late in the evening, Harbhajan had the rest of the fielders in splits with his antics and jokes, injecting some life into the proceedings. As the camera lingered on Harbhajan, Arnold began talking about how Harbhajan Singh, of late, has begun improving his all-round skills, adding that his batting and his ability to make people relax on the field while fielding are good improvements. Then he said that, unfortunately for India, it was this third skill of his that he was making the most impression with in this Test, which was a big reason for the long day in the field. Arnold alluded to the fact that as the premier spinner and the leader of the pack a lot more was expected of him. True, very true.

10:04am: Ishant Sharma begins with the outside the off-stump line that served him so well against Michael Hussey but, thankfully, without a defensive field (no sweeper cover, no deep point, etc.). Gavaskar calls Yuvraj Singh the only outstanding fielder they have inside the 30 yard circle. Either he is in a time warp or he is being kind to the others. Having said that, since the time he took Samaraweera's catch, Yuvraj has been a lot more active than I can recall him being of late.

10:09pm: Zaheer Khan takes over at the other end. Prasanna flicks an inswinger to the square-leg fence and then edges the next one on the bounce to second slip. ZAK is getting some movement here and could be a handful over the next few overs.

10:14pm: Mahela hits a sweet cover drive to the fence. The encouraging thing for Ishant is that Mahela reached a little away from his body to get to it. Yuvraj slides arond at cover to save the next drive. This was hit even further away from his body than the previous one. Two slips lie in wait. 601 for 5, Mahela 208, Prasanna 89.

10:16pm: ZAK is coming in from a shortened run-up. His first-ball bouncer is effortlessly pulled away to the square-leg fence by Prasanna, taking him to 93.

10:21pm: Mahela cuts away two balls to the point boundary and Ishant Sharma's pace (or lack thereof), which is at about 125kmph, draws Gavaskar's ire in the field. Dhoni runs up to Ishant, has a word, and removes one slip and puts in a deep point. I'd probably have kept the slip and reduced one of the leg-side fielders, but that is a minor quibble at this point.

"Mahela has got lovely hands. I daresay if he wasn't a batsmen he'd have made a good potter," suggests Gavaskar. I don't think he is referring to Mahela's wizarding pedigree here, though he very well might be considering how he is wielding that willow. 613 for 5 in 165 overs, Mahela on 216, Prasanna on 93.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: This is scarcely believable, but Mahela who began the innings needing 253 runs to reach 9,000 Test runs, is just 37 runs away!

10:31pm: Prasanna edges the ball just short of Dhoni and it slips under the glove, well past the bounce, and runs away to the fence taking him to 99. Ishant's lack of pace let him down there. Prasanna deserves this century. I hope he gets it. As an Indian supporter, I hope he does not get much more than that. And a glide to the third man fence, past point, gets him his second Test 100. Very well played innings, and thoroughly deserved.

Sri Lanka reaches 625 for 5 in 167 overs, a lead of 199, Mahela on 216, Prasanna 103. Their partnership stands at 250 runs even.

Prasanna is widely regarded as the best keeper in international cricket. One of the reasons he has not been a regular fixture is that other fellows with better batting skills have been considered for that secondary skill. With this innings, Prasanna shows that he can hang around on a docile pitch in foreign conditions, if required. While it is unwise to make projections based on a pitch that has already yielded a double century, and three other centuries, it is still a great sign for his supporters (and yes, I have been a fan of his since the time I saw him when India toured Sri Lanka) as well as followers of cricket around the world.

10:40pm: The field is now starting to spread just a little bit as there is very little movement for Ishant this morning. Actually he has been able to cut the ball in but at nowhere near the pace that he is usually able to generate. Both he and ZAK look stiff. The long hours in the field yesterday and the day before are taking their toll. Another glide to the third man fence, another boundary to that area, another gap that MS Dhoni now has to think about plugging.

Mahela looks like he will join Sehwag as the only right-handers to have scored two triple centuries in their Test career (Editors note: How could I be so dense?? I forgot that Don Bradman was right-handed, too!!). In case you did not pick up on this earlier, his 374 is the highest score ever made by a right-handed batsman in Test history (an innings I watched with fascination). Even that innings was as unflustered as this one has been. That day it took a freak ball from Andre Nel, one that kept very low after pitching, to get him out. I wonder what it will take to get him out today. Nothing I suspect the bowlers throw up will affect him in the zone he is in here.

By the way, if I am Indian supporter, I'd be rooting for him to challenge Brian Lara's score of 400. You do the math and figure out how long it will take him to get there and what it will mean in terms of time left in the Test match.

Sivaramakrishanan invokes the memories of Napier earlier this year and the cameras focus on VVS Laxman, whose rearguard innings in the second innings secured a draw for the Indians after the Kiwis put up over 600 runs in their first innings.

10:50pm: Harbhajan is jumping in today, bowling outside the off-stump but with loop and a forward short-leg and a leg-slip in place. He almost gets through Mahela's defenses there, the ball taking the inner-edge, going past the front leg, hitting the flap of the back pad, rolling down and hitting the back ankle. That last deflection is just enough to divert the trajectory of the ball past the off-stump. This has been the closest the Indians have been to dismissing him, hence that detailed description. Half-chances once every 222 runs deserve their own paragraph!

Oooh...CricInfo is referring to Mahela as MJ and Prasanna as PJ in their live commentary section. Why didn't I think of that?

638 for 5, 228, 104, lead: 212. Each number tells its own tale.

10:59pm: Amit Mishra comes on to bowl. No longer is it valid to say a bowler is coming into the attack. It is more like self-defense at this point in time. Mahela is enjoying his offerings, stepping down twice - once for four and then for six. That sound you hear is that of Amit Mishra's traveling case being shut. Scapegoats will be needed and since Harbhajan cannot be asked to "bowl a few overs in domestic cricket to get back his rhythm", Mishra will have to go.

About 10 different times in the past three days the commentators, especially Ravi Shastri, have pointed out that Mishra is under-cooked because he has not bowled in the longer form of the game for a long while and that he needs some seasoning. And every time that comes up, I feel like pointing out that the last first-class game that Harbhajan bowled was in the Test series in April this year, too. Since then he has predominantly bowled in the limited overs games, and in a fashion designed to contain runs. What's good for the goose has got to be good for the gander. I don't hear anyone mentioning that Harbhajan needs a stint of domestic cricket. What's up with that?

11:12pm: Amit Mishra bowls wide outside the leg stump and is still swept away for a four by Mahela, who moves to 244. In the next over, Harbhajan is picked up from wide outside the off-stump and sent to the midwicket fence. Harbhajan now goes around the wicket to counter it.

11:16pm: Ravi Sahstri starts talking about how Gambhir needs to prepare himself for the impending declaration. Not much longer to go before they start their parlor game - predict the lead at declaration.

11:19pm: Alert the authorities - Sri Lanka reaches 666. Hah! I beat Shastri to the punch by about a minute or so.

11:25pm: Yes, Shastri incurs the "what Sri Lanka don't want is to have India 8-down at the close of play tomorrow. They have got to leave themselves enough time" point of view. Naturally, he does not say exactly when he thinks enough is enough.

11:31pm: Prasanna and Mahela are starting to take toll, finding that scoring 4 runs an over is still do-able in spite of the restrictive line. Mahela crosses 250 and is within a single of 9,000. Sri Lanka is now at 683 for 5 in 182 overs, Prasanna on 124, Mahela on 252. The partnership is now worth 308 runs. Definitely the highest partnership between two batsmen who share the same last name but are not related to each other (just hedging my bets in case the Waughs or the Chappells had a bigger one). As I type that Mahela reaches 9,000 runs. Wow. I did not expect him to get it in the first innings of the series. Contrast that with Sachin when he needed 170-odd to cross Lara when he visited Sri Lanka. He left after the 3 Test series still a few runs short of that record. Unfortunately, India does not have a mystery spinner akin to Mendis in its reserves.

11:36pm: Russell Arnold is imploring the batsmen to "put the foot on the accelerator." I think he means he wants them to press harder on the accelerator, for they have had a foot on the accelerator for a long, long time now.

11:44pm: Mishra almost does a Nel, sending in a shooter that hits Mahela just above the ankle in front of the leg-stump. Unfortunately, since he is pitching it way outside the leg-stump, it is not an LBW. By the way, does anyone out there know why a ball pitched outside the leg-stump is automatically deemed to be impossible to give an LBW on?

Oh, the score is 695 for 5 in 187 overs, Mahela on 261, Prasanna on 127. This partnership is at 320 runs now.

11:52pm: Sri Lanka reaches 700, a lead of 273 runs. Virender Sehwag comes on to bowl - finally.

188 overs have gone by before Sehwag was thought of as an option. Or at least, agreed to turn his arm over. So far, he has not gotten any turn into the batsman. But his ball is drifting in the air, I think. Looks like that to me at least or maybe I am just deliriously happy to be seeing him bowl. 4 runs in that over, all of them to deep point.

11:56pm: Bruce Yardley gets into the spirit of things by guessing that Sri Lanka will declare with a 300 run lead. More than enough he reckons. Mahela distracts him by late cutting a Mishra offering (from over the wicket) to the third man fence.

11:59pm: Arnold offers up the first piece of positive news involving India in days - they have bowled 30 overs in this session, right on the target of 15 overs an hour. Sadly, this is the first session in this Test match when the REQUIRED target has been attained. Yes, we have had 9 previous sessions without the minimum requirement being met and no one with the authority to do something about it seems to care. Sehwag bowls the perfect, perfect off-break drawing the batsman forward, inviting the drive against the turn, beating the bat and even the keeper. Where was this man all these days? Ugh! In the pavilion, Murali's eyes lit up for sure.

And that's lunch on the 4th day. Sri Lanka 708 for 5, Mahela is on 267, Prasanna on 134, the partnership is at 333, the lead at 282.

And I shall take a break now. To sleep, perchance to dream. See you in half an hour or so.

Not that you care, but Ronnie Brown, the running back on my fantasy football team is injured and has been declared out for the season. Oh no! I need to go get me a running back and every team in my league has stocked up on them. Luckily, I have a two game lead so I have some time to recoup.

12:44am: Mahela is looking to score off every ball indicating that the Sri Lankans are close to where they think they are safe. Gavaskar starts counting overs and runs and predicts that Sri lanka will declare at the drinks interval. The game is definitely afoot, Watson. 8 runs off the first over by Mishra after lunch helps. By the way, Mahela now owns the highest score by a visiting batsman in India as well as the highest score by a Sri Lankan in an away Test.

12:47am: Sehwag at the other end, is picked off from way outside the off-stump to the midwicket boundary by Prasanna. Prasanna and Mahela equal Don Bradman and Jack Fingleton's world record for the 6th wicket in Tests. One ball later, they eclipse the pair. 349 runs and counting. I am sorry to say I did not catch that one coming.

Gavaskar: "The Indian attack has looked size 0." No comments.

Mahela reverse sweeps for a single. Sri Lankan intent very evident now. The lead is at exactly 300. A totally selfless attempt to hit a six results in the end of Mahela's innings. Mishra is cock-a-hoop. There is the small matter of 275 runs made by Mahela before that mis-step, though. 726 for 6, Prasanna on 144.

India sniffs a chance to get Sri Lanka all-out. Dhoni has the Lankans exactly where he wants them, 300 runs ahead and no one will fault the Indians for batting for a day and a half now, padding their averages. (By the way, if you did not detect the note of sarcasm there....oh well, never mind).

By the way the new batsman is Dammika Prasad.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Dammika Prasad needs 55 runs to reach 100 Test runs.

By the way, Dammika does have a first-class century to his credit.

4 of the 10 world record partnerships in Test cricket are by Sri Lankan pairs now (for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th wicket). Mahela Jayawardene has been one of the batsmen involved in three of them. Incredible.

Dhoni is still shouting instructions to Mishra on where to bowl to the batsman, keeping up a steady stream of advice.

Prasanna reached 150 now, the first Sri Lankan #7 to reach that milestone, Sivaramakrishnan informs us. 739 for 6 in 198 overs.

India is jut 40 overs away from the third new ball. Somehow I have this strong suspicion that they will not need to take it. I am really prescient about things like this.

Dammika has made 10 in 26 balls. Perplexing. Meanwhile Mishra has scored a double century, 57 overs for 200. In comparison, Harbhajan's 48 overs have gone for 189.

Yardley raises a very pertinent point: Mahela got out taking a big risk and was looking to score boundaries off every ball. Since his departure, the batsmen have just dabbed it around for singles. Why did Mahela bat the way he did if the intent was not to score runs quickly but rather to bat time?

Dilshan is applying some sunscreen in the pavilion. Yup, now we know what is going to happen in a few minutes from now. It has been 40 minutes since the lunch interval. The batsmen are still pottering away for ones here and there, not really trying anything extravagant.

And just after I type that Dammika Prasad swings hard and high and gets out, caught in the deep by Mishra off Harbhajan Singh. The Turbanator has done it, forcing Sangakkara's hands, causing the declaration to be announced.

Final tally: 760 for 7, Prasanna remains not out on 154. This is the 6th highest team total in Test history. Sri Lanka lead by 334 runs.

The Indian reply will begin in 10 minutes. I shall stretch my feet until then. Be back in a jiffy.

1:34am: I don't believe this. Sangakkara has a man at sweeper cover to start the innings for Sehwag, who hits the first ball for four past that fielder. Two slips, a gully, a cover and mid-off, apart from the sweeper. Sehwag is in Seh-whack mood, swinging freely at every ball, and gets the thick edge that is deflected away by the keeper into the gap between first and second slip. Dropped catch that was going straight to Mahela at first slip. No-ball, so it would not have counted. Maybe this will calm Sehwag down a little bit. The ball was so wide it hit the end of Sehwag's bat and Welegedara is a left-armer angling the ball away from the righty from over the wicket.

By the way, Sehwag's average has dipped to slightly below 50 runs an innings because of his recent run of cameos.

1:39am: Okay. Sehwag greets Prasad with a four to cover off the first ball. This man is something else altogether. The next ball is studiously defended away. The first defensive shot in this innings for Sehwag. Two more to sweeper cover now. Sehwag edges a drive between keeper and first slip for a four. Oh dear, both of them went for it and both of them whiffed.

In 11 balls the Sri Lankan bowlers have induced more edges than the Indian pacers did in the entire Sri Lankan innings. Is it the bowlers? Is it the batsmen?

Some math for Sangakkara to digest. At the start of the second innings there were 145 overs to go. Assuming India blazes away at 4 runs an over. It will take them to 585 runs, a lead of just 250 runs. There is no way India gives Sri Lanka a target less than that. Therefore, Mr. Sangakkara, there is no reason to not attack the batsmen. You don't really need to worry about the fours being hit. You need 10 pieces of inspiration to win the Test. Go get them.

1:46am: Gambhir finally plays in front of himself and punches it, Langer-style, to the cover fence. The ball was escorted all the way by the cover fielder. Just enough power, just enough timing.

Oh, India's score is 24 for no loss in 3 overs, Sehwag 16, Gambhir 7. Trail by 310 runs.

1:51am: Sehwag has made one adjustment to his technique in light of his first innings dismissal. When he is defending, the bat is in front of the pads, not behind it as it was in the first innings. Prasad bowls a ball that does not rise above shin height on its way to the keeper. Ooooh!

I have mentioned this a few times in the past but it bears repeating. Sanjay Manjrekar has mentioned a few times on air about how Sehwag bats when he is nervous. Where other folks tend to play within themselves when they are nervous, Sehwag's mode of dealing with it is to hit the ball hard and often, spreading the field and calming his nerves even as the bowler gets defensive. Manjrekar's astute judgement makes perfect sense when you recall a typical Sehwag inning. The flurries at the beginning and when nearing landmarks (he is the only batsman to reach 300 with a six and the second time he was nearing 300 he tried to reach it with a six again!) typically sandwich periods of "sensible" batting predicated on taking the singles on offer. I am reminded of Manjrekar now as Sehwag is no longer swinging his bat willy-nilly defending away the good balls after that hectic start.

2:02am: After a more orthodox start to his innings, in the last 3 balls or so, Gambhir has suddenly started batting in the nudge and prod mode that led to his downfall in the first innings (and the recent ODI series against Australia).

34 for no loss, Sehwag 16, Gambhir 17. Trail by 300 runs, 130 overs left in the match.

2:12am: Gambhir continues to bat that way. Sehwag and are picking up some really sharp singles without any sign of trouble. 39 for no loss now.

2:14am: 8 overs into the innings, Sangakkara has had enough of it and brings Herath on to bowl to Gambhir. Herath starts over the wicket to the lefty and round the wicket to the righty. Let the games begin! Sehwag is content to simply pat away the first two balls. The third ball is the prance down the wicket and he gets it off the outer half of the bat. No harm done eventually as it rolls into the fence on the second bounce.

Oh my goodness! Sangakkara's response is to add a guy at long-off to the guy already at deep cover. He has just two close-in catchers, and 5 inside the "30-yard circle". Four people patrol the fence with a 290 run lead. Seriously!

2:19am: Sehwag tries to get run out but Murali cannot hit the stump from mid-on with Sehwag about 5 yards short of the crease. Chalk it down as another life for Viru. The next ball is driven majestically by Gambhir but Angelo Matthews goes airborne to his right and plucks the ball on the bounce and prevents four runs. Already he has saved more runs that India did in the whole innings. What an effort and he is not even Sri Lanka's best fielder.

2:22am: Sehwag is fed on his toes by Prasad and he cashes in with a four to midwicket to bring up the 50 in the 10th over. Sehwag is on 28, Gambhir is on 22. The duo are taking turns amping up the scoring. Sehwag raced to 12, Gambhir went past him to 20, Sehwag has now overtaken him to get to 29, etc. It is like they are riding a tandem bike.

Herath again and Sangakkara has a long-on even before Gambhir has tried to hit over the top. I guess he must have been fast asleep all day yesterday when India ceded single after single to the Jayawardene's.

57 for no loss in 11 overs, Gambhir on 23, Sehwag on 33, India trail by 277 with 125 overs to go.

2:27am: Over number 12 brings Murali to the crease. Diametrically opposite to the first innings when he came on with the score 67 for 4 in 15 overs. It is now 62 for no loss in 12 overs.

2:32am: Gavaskar starts off again about there being just 3 overs to go for the tea break and how the Indians should be mindful of not gifting a wicket away to the Sri Lankans. I was listening carefully and he never advised the visitors to do that when they were nearing a break. Sehwag does not listen to him, cuts Murali for a couple to deep third man, and then gently pushes a ball to long on for a single. Murali is bowling with just 2 slips to Gambhir now. Too bad the Sri Lankan lead is only 268 runs. Imagine how conservative Sangakkara would have been if the lead was just 100.

This is very disappointing captaincy. By the way, Sangakkara, when the field was hemmed in Sehwag gave you two chances in the slips. Doesn't that tell you something? Also, if the roles had been reversed, how do you think Dhoni would have approached it? The answer should tell you whether you think Dhoni is a good captain in your mind or not.

2:40am: 69 for no loss in 15 overs, Sehwag on 40, Gambhir on 28, India trail by 265 runs.

Sehwag steps away from the leg stump and cuts Murali past first slip (in the air) to the third man fence. A few balls later the umpires decide they have had enough of Sangakkara's negativeness and take off the bails, signalling tea.

2:44am: India 77 for no loss, Sehwag on 47, Gambhir on 28, India trail by 257 runs with 118 overs to go.

I shall take a short break now and resume in a few minutes.

3:10am: Sehwag gets to his fifty with a shimmy down the wicket and a flick to the midwicket fence. One fourth of the way there now for him. He has been looking a little too edgy throughout the course of this innings. Ay caramba! He has thrown it away with a horrible slog sweep that took the top edge and Angelo Matthew took it comfortably at mid-on. 81 for 1, Gambhir batting on 28. Dravid comes in, the situation may cause him to revert to the Dravid of old. I hope not as the Dravid in the first innings was a welcome sight.

3:17am: Gambhir is not letting the wicket change the way he plays. With two slips in place Murali is trying to get him on the cut shot. Gambhir obliges by cutting for four and then getting a single to sweeper at point. 91 for 1 in 20 overs, Gambhir on 34, Dravid on 3, India trail by 243 runs with 115 overs to go.

3:21am: Good positive batting from Dravid. Solid in defense, as usual, but not afraid to rock back and hit the ball hard if the bowlers are shorter in length. Sensible.

3:22am: Rahul Dravid must be happy the fast bowlers are not on as he can now bat wearing a cap. It is going to be a long day in the sun today and tomorrow for all the players. 98 for 1 in 22 overs, Gambhir 36, Dravid 7. India trail by 236 runs with 113 overs to go.

3:27am: Gambhir waltzes down the track (and waltzes is the right word) to drive handsomely through covers for a four to bring up the 100 of the innings. Mahela is talking away and adjusting the field while Sangakkara watches. The field is a lot more attacking now that Sehwag has wandered away to the la-la land that only he inhabits.

By the way, before you ask me: I am not upset at the shot choice of Sehwag there. He bats in a different word from the rest of us and he has played enough long innings, more than most people, to know what works for him. He is not a maniacal masher of the ball and must have seen something in the ball that convinced him he could get away with the hoick (there was no deep midwicket in place). With a player like him, I'd be more inclined to let him have his way, especially as he has demonstrated his pedigree in the past.

3:30am: Dravid steps away and cuts Murali to third man. Murali nearly gets his man in return when a ball loops off Dravid's pad, just beyond the reach of the fielder at forward short-leg for a legbye...should have been a legbye but Tony Hill makes no indication suggesting that if the catch had been taken he would have sent Dravid on his way. Dravid is shaking his head vehemently at the non-striker's end but chooses not to say anything to the umpire.

3:34am: Five good balls from Herath and then a loose, overpitched ball outside the off-stump that the rejuvenated Dravid cashes in with a smash that the sweeper cover is not able to reach.

3:36 am: Sharp single by Gambhir to Dilshan at short cover, safely home in the end as the throw goes to the keeper and not directly to the stumps. 114 for 1 in 26 overs, Gambhir on 43, Dravid on 16. India trail by 220 runs with 109 overs to go.

3:40am: Herath bowls a tight line to Dravid, but with only two close-in catchers - slip and forward short-leg. Maybe Sangakkara hopes to bore the Indians into giving wickets. In response the Indians are taking as many runs as they can knowing that as the lead dwindles so will the hopes of a Sri lankan win.

3:43am: Murali is not bowling at all like the Murali I know. Dravid has cut him to third man three times that I can remember. Was I being too harsh on Harbhajan earlier? Murali's analysis as of now: 9-0-35-0. Herath: 10-0-38-1.

India 120 for 1, trails by 214 runs, Gambhir 44, Dravid 21, with 107 overs to go.

Herath occasionally bowls a ball using only two fingers - it is easy to spot as his action changes quite noticeably - and the ball is almost like Mendis' carrom ball - zipping through when it pitches.

Another thing about Murali that has just come to my attention. Normally he is very animated, smiling, cracking jokes, looking relaxed. Today he seems a little irked by something and is frowning quite a bit. 10-0-40-0 for him. I think he needs a short break, about 3-4 overs or so.

3:54am: Gambhir steps down, and flicks to midwicket. The single takes him to a richly deserved 50. Once again another 2nd innings 50 for him. Including this innings, the last 8 times he has batted in the second innings for India he has scored 3 centuries and 3 fifties with another 30 not out thrown in for good measure. That 8th occasion in which he missed out? He had already made 206 in the first innings in Anil Kumble's last Test match!

Gautam Gambhir is an oddity, an opener who is a very good player of spin. Aakash Chopra rates him as among the best players of spin bowling in the country, present Indian teammates included. High praise.

4:05am: Dammika Prasad comes in to bowl forcing Dravid to wear a helmet for the first time. Three no-balls slightly spoil an otherwise good over where he got Gambhir to chase a wide one giving him a chance to have a polite conversation with the batsman.

That takes us to drinks. India are 138 for 1 in 33 overs, Gambhir on 55, Dravid on 25, India trail by 196 with 102 overs left in the Test.

4:14am: Murali comes on right after the drinks break. Sangakkara may want to think of Welegedara for a couple of overs just as a change of pace before going back to Herath and Murali. Murali gets thumped to the cover boundary by Dravid, who is (I am grateful to report) batting like he did in the first innings - full of positive energy and hustle. 12-0-49-0 for Murali.

Sangakkara reads my blog (!) - Welegedara into the attack now. At the other end, I'd like to see Dilshan replace Murali for a two or three over spell.

4:18am: First three balls from Welegedara are right on the target forcing the forward press. Welegedara is getting the ball to swing into Gambhir just a little bit, enough to get the inner-half of the bat and send the ball towards mid-on when it was intended to go towards mid-off. Make that 5 balls in the same region. A single off the last ball to a ball that was wide of the off-stump ensures that 35 overs into the innings Sri Lanka still hasn't bowled a maiden over. I think it is as much an indictment of the wicket as it is of the bowlers being unable to bowl a steady line and length that keeps the batsmen quiet.

Gavaskar finally gives me the type of insight that I expect commentators, especially former players, to provide. He talks about Gambhir being someone who is always looking to learn something from the more experienced players. He expands on that with an anecdote that when Gambhir first came into the Indian team in 2004, he was quickly nicknamed Clovermint (or something that sounded like that...help!) after a commercial wherein a highly curious person is constantly asking questions, much akin to how Gambhir was and still is.

4:27am: Four more runs from Murali's over takes India past 150. Welegedara is now bowling 2-3 feet outside the off-stump to Dravid with a lone slip nearby. Dravid takes up the challenge and square-drives him for a couple to deep point.

153 for 1 in 37 overs. Gambhir 62, Dravid 32, India trail by 191 runs with 99 overs to go.

Somebody finally replaces Murali - it is Dammika Prasad's honor to do so. Dammika Prasad and Peter Siddle are similar bowlers, if that helps you visualize Prasad's bowling style. Sweat is dripping off Dravid's visor, a sure sign that things are back to normal in the cricketing world. Prasad is gently deflected away by Dravid through the absent gully fielder to the vacant third man area, for a four. Prasad returns by moving the ball away and beating Dravid who was walking foward to meet the ball. Well bowled, sir. See, banging in short is not the only way to bowl. Pitch it up and let the swing come about on its own.

By the way, during the lunch break Saun Udal in the Sky Sports studio informed us that Middlesex has signed Adam Gilchrist as their overseas player for the T20 portion of the next County season. He hinted that they are trying to lure Sachin Tendulkar into joining the Australian. Midlesex must have a lot of money in its coffers. Gilchrist is living the life that Chris Gayle dreams of and Andrew Flintoff and Symonds are trying to attain - that of a T20 mercenary.

4:36am: Welegedara is getting some decent swing here - about the width of a bat or so. Enough to make the batsmen play him a bit cautiously and under their noses. If he stays healthy, and based on his CricInfo profile that is a big if, Sri lanka has found its replacement for the recently-retired Chaminda Vaas.

163 for 1 in 39 overs, Gambhir on 65, Dravid on 37, India trails by 171 runs with 96 overs remaining in the Test.

4:40am: Dammika Prasad is bowling in the low 140's, close to 90mph. Pretty good stuff. He has one ball on the leg stump and that (Editor's note: I am not sure where that thought disappeared).

4:45am: Dravid is given out LBW and that was surely not out. Dravid is not happy and the replay shows why. Hawkeye says it would hit the outside of the leg-stmp but that was not out at all. Welegedara was coming round the wicket from wide of the crease and the angle would have taken it past the leg-stump. Darryl Harper has another mistake in his copybook.

India 173 for 2 in 40.1 overs, Dravid out for 38, Gambhir batting on 70, India trail by 161 with 94.5 overs to go.

4:48: Sachin Tendulkar opts for a tail-ender and Amit Mishra comes in. I used to think it was the captain's call until I read somewhere that the Indian team leaves it to the incoming batsman to decide whether he wants a night-watchman or not.

In the first innings Mishra looked quite competent and he shows he can bat with a sweet cquare-drive for a boundary to get off the mark off Welegedara.

4:51am: Prasad comes in to Mishra with a deep point, a deep fine-leg and a deep square-leg, and the edge goes through the vacant third man area through where third slip would be. What are you protecting the boundaries for, Sangakkara? Crowd the #10 batsman and keep catching positions, you are leading by 156 runs. Now the ridiculously open field lets him take a single off the 5th ball of the over. 184 for 2, India trails by 150 runs with Gambhir on 72, and Mishra on 9. 3 overs left today, and 90 tomorrow.

Prasad is leaving the field, walking gingerly. I hope it is nothing serious as Sri Lanka will need him tomorrow. Maybe he is just ensuring he does not have to bowl again today and, thus, beats the rush to the ice-bath.

4:56am: Welegedara bowls with three slips for Mishra, and then a big gap until cover, with a deep point. The two boundary riders on the leg-side are still in place. Now, one of them comes in to square-leg. Now that Prasad has left I think Murali may bowl one more over. Mishra negotiates the over carefully and safely.

Two overs to go, Murali on to bowl. Three boundary riders, a slip, forward short-leg, short mid-wicket, short cover close by. A no-ball, Murali's 4th of the innings lets Gambhir punch it away for a single. Mishra jumps out and attempts an extravagant hoick and misses and makes it back in time before the silly point fielder throws down the stumps. Chagrined by that, Mishra then plays away the next 4 balls with the full face exposed to Murali. Better. It becomes best when he sweeps the last ball for a single and is going to take strike off the first ball of the next over.

It is the last over of the day and since he will be shielding Gambhir from the strike, I suspect the first maiden of the day for Sri Lanka will be in the books 6 balls from now, 45 overs into the Indian innings.

5:05am: Herath to bowl the last over. Ball one - driven back to the bowler. Ball two - flicked to deep midwicket for a couple, maiden averted! Ball three - punched all the way to deep mid-off. Ball four - defended on the front foot. Ball five - defends on the backfoot to short midwicket. Neeya mai, says the keeper (or something that sounds like that). Ranil Abenayake translates and says that it mean well done in Sinhalese. Ball six - taken on the thigh pad on the back foot.

End of day's play. India is 192 for 2 in 45 overs, trailing by 144, Gambhir on 74, Mishra on an impressive 12. Sri Lanka has not bowled a single maiden over in the second innings so far. And that tells you the tale of both team's approach. India has looked positive, looking for runs at every opportunity, knowing that the fewer runs that separate them from Sri Lanka in the deficit column, the lesser the pressure on them. Sri Lanka has looked very diffident in the field in the captaincy stakes. Sangakkara has been too quick to let the pressure relieve by spreading his fielders in a reactionary manner, placing them were the boundaries are being hit. Murali has looked very ineffective but the field he has is not attacking enough to make the batsmen think twice about shuffling around in the crease.

All in all, by lunch tomorrow if India is able to reduce the deficit to between 50-75 without losing wickets, we may see a long leather hunt for the Sri Lankans.

Okay now it is time to get some sleep. Organismal Biology lab beckons in the morning in a few hours from now!

Running diary - Day 3: Single-minded Sri Lanka

This is a running diary that I will keep updating periodically with random thoughts as and when they occur during the day's play of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka being played at Ahmedabad (November 16-20, 2009). I shall keep it in chronological order so the latest additions will be at the tail end of the diary. Also, since this is being done on the fly, excuse the spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Running diary - Day 1: Dravid shows the way yet again

Running diary - Day 2: Running diary - Day 2: Dilshan to the forefront

Day 3

The third day of a Test is often called the pivotal day for more reasons than one. The game is interestingly poised, leaning slightly in Sri Lanka's favor as they have 7 wickets in hand and are 150 runs behind. Should they get a lead it will give them an advantage and put pressure on the Indians to think about saving the Test before harboring hopes of winning it.

10:00pm: The conundrum facing Dhoni is that there are still about 10 overs to go before the new ball is due, so he cannot start with his pacers first up. But the best time to strike for wickets in in the first hour. The ghosts of the past come back to haunt India. If they had pushed through the over rate yesterday, they could have taken the new ball sooner today.

10:22pm: Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra open the proceedings to start the day. Harbhajan looks different in a white patka. Unique and eye-catching. He should do this more often. There is turn, but it is not a sharp one, and the bounce is a bit low. The problem for the spinners is that if they fire it in fast, it will not spin as much but if they loop it up the batsman has more than enough time to step forward or move back and play it away.

10:33pm: India has slipped into a pray-for-the-new-ball mode. Thilan Samaraweera punches through the cover region and brings up his 50. This man is in impressive form and looks good for the long haul. Not to be outdone, Mahela Jayawardene takes advantage and hits a sweet cut shot to bring up his 50. Well played, sirs.

10:42pm: Finally, the Indians perk up. The new ball is taken and Ishant Sharma begins. In the end, just a steady over. He's been on the field for a while now. I wish he could have fired up right away but it is not to be.

10:46pm: Oh no! If Ishant looked undercooked, Zaheer Khan looks positively statuesque. The first ball is a full toss and Samaraweera says I can do a Dravid and flick-drives it for four. Zaheer comes back with a ZAK special off the last ball. Maybe now he is getting into a rhythm. Sheesh.

10:52pm: Ishant Sharma is bowling with a leg-slip. A wise move, I think, since his stock ball is the incoming cutter and a flick should go there. The only thing is that the fielder is Sehwag, not the quickest of movers there. Aaargh! Jayawardene flicks between the keeper and leg slip. Is he standing too wide? Yes he is, as another ball goes between the two, for legbyes this time. At least there is some hope in that spot yet.

10:54pm: By the way, the 100 partnership for the duo came up a few over ago. Their best is a monumental 437 earlier this year in Karachi. Oh dear.

10:56pm: I have been remiss in my duties today on two fronts. Let me make up for it.

Sri Lanka 323 for 3 in 83 overs, Jayawardene 61, Samaraweera 62.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Jayawardene needs another 106 runs to get to 1,000 runs in 2009.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Samaraweera needs another 146 runs to get to 4,000 Test runs.

11:02pm: Ishant Sharma is getting some sharp incutters going but the bounce is not disarming enough to trouble the batsmen. At this point in time, it appears only a mistake by the two will fetch India a wicket. Sri Lanka 328 for 3, trailing by 98 runs. Jayawardene 61, Samaraweera 67.

At their current rate, Sri Lanka will cross the Indian score in about 25 overs from now. And considering how the Indians are barely faster than tortoises when it comes to getting through their overs, that point in time is projected to come about sometime after lunch on the 5th day of this Test match. I am only half-joking, by the way.

Amit Mishra and Harbhajan are within a boundary of scoring a century. I can't help feeling a ittle frustrated over the way Harbhajan just threw his wicket away yesterday.

11:05pm: ZAK begins with a beauty, beating Samaraweera with a ball that cuts away from him. ZAK continues with the good balls, nailing Samaraweera in the midriff with a fast-rising ball. Now he comes round the wicket. Samaraweera counters by walking across the stumps and playing the ball outside the off-stump. 16 overs, 55 runs so far in the day's play. Advantage Sri Lanka, big time. Steve Waugh is in danger of turning into a bobblehead doll as his win-toss-bowl-first strategy is being vindicated by a classic performance by the Sri Lankan batsmen.

Would you believe it, the ball is probably going to be be changed now. Nope, that effort of the Indians goes in vain. You can bet they will try it again soon, searching for that ball that swings more than the others. This is a fairly common ploy these days.

11:15pm: Dravid is now fielding at mid-on. And that is because Yuvraj is fielding at square-leg. Ishant Sharma bowls one short and Samraweera pulls and Yuvraj pulls off a sharp chance moving to his right, near the square-leg umpire. Samaraweera throws it away and the crowd wakes up! Sri Lanka 332 for 4, Samaraweera out for 70, Jayawardene batting on 61.

Abdur Razzaq Angelo Matthews is in now, facing Ishant Sharma who bowls a short one outside the off-stump and Angelo pulls out of a pull shot as the ball goes to the keeper's right. Wise move. Another short one and Matthews bends towards gully and lets it go over his back. Sharma looks perked up now. Body language study is really a function of one's own mentality, isn't it?

11:19pm: The equation has changed again, for a few moments at least, while Matthews settles down. Mahela has to be careful about giving it back in a double blow. ZAK still operating round the wicket.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: How new is Angelo Matthews to the cricketing arena? The best milestone I can find is that he is 98 sixes away from reaching 100 sixes for his career. Weak? Okay, he needs 20 runs to reach 250 Test runs. Weaker? Well...his numbers are not in the SRT league to be throwing up milestones easily, what can I say?

11:25am: Dhoni keeps two fielders by the square-leg umpire. Smart, very smart. I wonder why more captains don't employ this field to Asian batsmen who get so many of their runs there.

Angelo Matthews does average 55 in his first-class career with 8 centuries and 10 fifties in just 52 innings. Formerly the captain of the Under-19 team, he has clearly been earmarked for future greatness by the Sri Lankan board.

Russell Arnold must be reading my blog, as he rattles off the previous paragraph to the viewers even as I finish typing that it. Spooky!

11:30pm: ZAK goes over the wicket to Jayawardene and promptly gives up two fours, one a straight drive and the other a flick-drive. He is motoring along again now after slowing down when the wicket fell. He ends the over with the best shot of the morning, a cover drive. There are cover drives and then there are cover drives. This was the latter. Jayawardene marches to 74, Sri Lanka 348 for 4 in 90 overs. Matthews is on 3.

Mohammad Yousuf or Yasir Hameed would have proudly owned up to that cover drive.

Matthews looks solid so far, meeting the ball with the bat in front of the body and not playing away from it. Ishant will need something special to get through him. I hope ZAK can hold on for another over or two and get to bowl to Matthews. Matthews takes a single with 2 balls to go and here's the chance for the Indians to keep Mahela at the non-striker's end for the next over. Nope, the last ball comes in but Mahela slices it to third man and keeps the strike. Over gaaji, as my Chennai friends would say. Somewhere, Boycott and his mom nod sagely in appreciation.

11:37pm. That spells the end for ZAK. Dhoni turns to his first-choice spinner...nope he turns to Yuvraj Singh. If he is looking to bowl part-timers he should go to Sehwag. I'd have said SRT, but the 20-year veteran seems to have given up bowling these days.

Russell Arnold repeats the myth about Yuvraj being a partnership-breaker. I dispelled this myth yesterday, and I shall not do it again now.

Matthews is greeted by just one slip and a forward short-leg. Come on, Dhoni, put some pressure on the kid and place a few fielders in his eyeline, remind him that he hasn't settled in yet, that lunch is fast approaching, and that Sri Lanka cannot afford for him to make a mistake. Come on, please!

351 for 4 for Sri Lanka in 92 overs, Jayawardene on 76, Matthews on 4.

11:42pm: Jayawardene takes a sharp single, and is rewarded with bonus runs. With the overthrows, he gets 5 runs. The rest of the over goes by uneventfully.

11:48pm: With just 12 minutes to go for lunch, I'd like to see Dhoni attack with his two frontline spinners and a packed, attacking field.

Ravi Shastri has about 10 stock phrases that he recycles and uses in different sequences, no matter what the state of the match is. I bet he has stopped coming to work and just dials in his commentary by texting in the # and the audio guy plays that relevant soundbite.

359 for 4 in 94 overs. Jayawardene on 82, Matthews on 6. Harbhajan on to bowl now. He looks sooooo different in his white patka. Nice field for him: leg slip, forward short-leg, slip, deep square-leg, deep fine-leg and long-on and he is bowling round the wicket to Mahela. First ball is outside the off-stump and a single to gully. Intentional, I think. Yes, it is, as a silly point now comes into the picture, too.

Come on Angelo, show us you can step out and loft the guy. Harbhajan just does not get it, does he? After all that, the ball is on the leg-stump and easily flicked away for a single. Aargh! Pragyan Ojha is India's best spinner and it is a travesty that Harbhajan is automatically considered to be the first option. I know he did well in New Zealand but he has been soooooo disappointing when they have needed him to step up to the plate.

11:55pm: Mishra in to Matthews now, with two slips and a forward short-leg. Matthews steps out and lofts a no-ball (!) over long-on for a 6. Now he bowls a short-pitched ball that is smashed away to the vacant mid-wicket area for a boundary. 374 for 4, Matthews 17, Jayawardene is on 85. They trail India by just 52 runs. India was 379 for 5 at one point on day 1. A day and a half later, Sri Lanka nears that mark. Somehow, it seems unlikely that they will throw away the advantage like India did. (Welegadara had a lot to do with it, yes, but it does not look like the Indians are bowling anywhere close to as well as he did).

12:00am: At the stroke of lunch Harbhajan gets Matthews to edge the ball to forward short-leg. No proper replays yet, but I think it was NOT OUT. Let's see. 375 for 5, Jayawardene 85, Jayawardene 0. Similar situation to India on Day 1 now.

Lunch is taken at the fall of the wicket. No replays to look at as I am getting an interview with Imran Nazir on one channel, South Africa versus England highlights on the Sky Sports channel, and Shastri and co talk to the studio from the ground on Channel 3 - Neo Sports.

I am going to take a break and read the book that I did not get a chance to continue yesterday (The Beekeper's Apprentice).

12:42am: Harbhajan finishes his over, no further damage done to Sri Lanka but the spread field (in-out field) gifts away a couple of easy singles.

(Editor's insert: The TV folks did not show too many replays of Matthews' dismissal, but the couple they did show suggested that the bat was not involved.)

12:43am: Amit Mishra continues and is promptly smashed away by Mahela for four to cover to get into the 90's now. Mishra gets two balls to spin a good two feet now. Interesting. Predictably the next ball is a googly and Mahela leans forward and drops it to gully for a single. Prasanna at the crease now. Googly first up, and he gets two to deep midwicket. I think it is time for ZAk to bowl at one end for two or three overs.

Sri Lanka 384 for 5 in 98 overs. Jayawardene on 92, and Jayawardene on 3. Harbhajan continues from the other end with his in-out field. And the ball is hit through the two close-in leg-side fielders for an easy single. Prasanna looks full of intent and has been taking on the spinners and sweeping and flicking them easily. Sri Lanka is now just 37 runs away from India.

It has been just three overs since lunch but already Prasanna is surrounded by only two close-in fielders. Ironically, Mahela is surrounded by three close-in fielders. Maybe they are trying to prey on the fact that he is near a milestone. First ball of the next over is cut for a four and that moves him to 99, on the verge of joining Dravid at 27 centuries in Tests. And he gets to it in 152 balls. Well deserved and well played. Dangerous signs for India.

Right on cue,

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Prasanna Jayawardene needs 133 runs to get to 6,000 first class runs.

Random factoid: Jayawardene has 76 stumpings in first-class 168 matches.

12:54am: Prasanna is being given an easy single by Harbhajan each time, with a leg-stump line. This is frustrating to watch. Harbhajan is just going through the motions here. No excitement or enthusiasm at all. I am not his biggest fan, I admit, but this is deplorable. Send him to deep midwicket and give the ball to Sehwag, I say.

12:58am: Amit Mishra is also being read very easily by Prasanna. Prasanna keeps to Murali and Mendis. Reading Mishra is like picking up the morning newspaper for him. Sri Lanka 402 for 5 in 102 overs, Prasanna 12, Mahela 101.

Dhoni keeps saying, "Nice bowling, Bajj." I don't see what's nice about it really. India is waiting for mistakes now, giving up all pretense of trying to take wickets, except for one unorthodox catcher 2/3rds of the way to the square-leg fence, waiting for the top edged sweep.

ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK. ZAK.

I hope I have made it clear who I want bowling right now. The spinners are not doing anything to inspire confidence. But Mishra continues. A full toss outside the off-stump and a dive by Yuvraj saves it from crashing to the midwicket fence. The best thing about that was that Yuvraj dove for the ball. Now, there's just one close-in fielder - Dravid at slip. Flicked away to square leg and another run is ambled in by the batsmen. Insipid and uninspiring stuff from both spinners. 411 for 5 in 104 overs, 15 runs behind India. Mahela is on 104 and Prasanna on 18.

Economy Singh continues. Bowling over the wicket now. Obligatory flick to square-leg coming up in 1...2...3 balls *sigh* and now another flick on ball 5. Economy probably pats himself on the back for giving away just 2 runs in that over.

1:12am: ZAK IS BACK! Okay. Let's see what he can do now. Round the wicket, a slip and gully nearby. Prasanna flicks his away for a four to fine-leg. Okay, first bad ball in a while for him. Mulligan. Played away calmly for the rest of the over. Nothing to suggest yet that even he may do something. At least he looks like he wants to be there, unlike Mishra who looks more disconsolate with each passing over.

1:18am: Economy Singh continues with 3 guys on the boundary on the leg-side and a deep point. I mean, this is a field for a part-time bowler who cannot control the ball. I want Sehwag to replace Economy now. The next Test is in Mohali so Economy is sure to play that one, though based on current display he does not deserve to.

Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag. Sehwag.

1:22am: Dravid is talking to ZAK. ZAK continues round the wicket to Mahela. Sri Lanka is one stroke away from taking the lead. Impressive batting display this. A no-ball is pushed away for a couple and the scores are tied. Another no-ball sends Sri Lanka into the lead. 14 no-balls by India in this innings. And it is not just the fast bowlers who have contributed to it - Mishra has 5 of his own.

No hint of any movement whatsoever from ZAK. My call is not looking like it will pan out. Still, he is bowling better than the spinners and I would continue him for another two overs at least. Meanwhile, just to get the crowd active again, I would like to see Sehwag (or Tendulkar) bowling. "Gots to tries somethings," as Gollum would say. 428 for 5 in 108 overs, Prasanna 26, Mahela 111.

Yardley starts again, imploring the batsmen to "get on with it". The last time he said this, Economy Singh heard him and reverse-swept away any initiative that India had. I think Sri Lanka is doing it just fine, three-four singles an over without any risks. At this rate, with about 52 overs left in the day (more like 50), they can have a lead of 150-175 by the end of the day's play without risking anything. Extend it further tomorrow morning and put pressure on the Indians to bat out 5 sessions to save the Test with Murali and Herath on a 4th day pitch. My point: Yardley needs to rethink what he wants Sri Lanka to do.

(Editors note: Ahem, how prescient was that! I should buy some lottery tickets tonight.)

1:33am: ZAK bounces and hits Mahela on the helmet off the glove. Falls harmlessly but that is a good sign for ZAK. Will keep him interested. Prasanna neatly hooks a bouncer away for a single and Mahela simply sits under the next bouncer. 438 for 5, Prasanna 30, Mahela 114. Surely, this is the highest score by a Sri Lankan in India. The folks on TV have not picked up on this yet.

1:37am: Yuvraj replaces Economy Singh. Not quite the change I wanted. I wonder how long before Gavaskar talks about his "partnership-breaking" skills. Too many singles on offer and no pressure at all on the batsmen to change the way they are playing. One bad ball - a short one outside the off-stump, and Mahela thumps it to deep midwicket. Easy pickings.

443 for 5 in 111 overs, Prasanna on 31 and Mahela on 118. Drinks break. India bowled 14.4 overs in that session. Amazing! They may actually complete all the overs today. Wow.

ZAK and Yuvraj resume after the drinks break and give away a slow trickle of singles. Both teams content to take what the other team is giving them.

1:55am: Prasanna touches a ball to the keeper down the leg-side. Dhoni does not appeal, Zaheer screams, but Tony Hill is unmoved. Oh dear, that was a clear catch. I guess it cancels out the Mathews dismissal. I doubt Matthews feels that is fair exchange, though.

453 for 5 in 114 overs, Prasanna 34, Mahela 124.

2:02am: The Indians finally convince the umpires that the ball is out of shape after about three tries. Maybe the "new" ball will shake things up. That brings Ishant Sharma back into the attack. Too bad ZAK just finished a longish spell.

2:11am: Harbhajan starts to goof off on the field, keeping people in splits. The crowd wakes up. I wish he had shown this enthusiasm when he was bowling earlier. At least this enlivens the proceedings somewhat. Sri Lanka is remorselessly grinding the bowling into the dust, taking singles way too often. Only 2 boundaries in the last 17 overs, and yet Sri Lanka has put on 63 runs without losing a wicket. That, in a nutshell, describes the play so far.

2:32am: The play meanders along. Sri Lanka progresses to 470 for 5 in 120 overs, Mahela on 134, Prasanna on 42. The duo have now put on 100 runs. Mishra comes on to join Harbhajan and bowl to the Jayawardene's. Mishra coming round the wicket and bowling into the rough. Mishra is getting some prodigious turn and spins a ball from wide outside the leg-stump past the bat and past the off-stump. Is this the line he needs to get his confidence back?

2:40am: At tea, Sri Lanka is 480 for 5 in 123 overs, Prasanna on 43, Mahela in 142. Jayawardene needs just 111 runs to reach 9,000 Test runs. The way he is batting, it looks like he will reach that milestone by tomorrow morning.

3:05am: Harbhajan begins the post-tea proceedings by bowling way outside the off-stump. Prasanna stretches way across and still sweeps it to fine-leg for two runs. No fielder close-in, not even a slip. Singles galore everywhere. Economy actually looks unhappy about the field, would you believe it?

3:08am: Mishra continues with the outside the leg-stump, spin it into the batsman, line. He is getting some tremendous amount of spin there. Prasanna is resorting to paying with his pads. Prasanna pads away all but one ball in the over. Maiden for Mishra.

In a very odd way, even this is quite riveting. Not as riveting as a true challenge between bat and ball, but riveting in a different way. India is daring Sri Lanka to take risks and take the initiative to put the game away. Let's see how this pans out.

3:11am: Economy is replaced by Achey-knee Singh, who is going to bowl with no close-in fielders. Mahela takes a single to long-on and brings the less-experienced Prsanna on strike, who flicks a single. I don't think Harbhajan wanted to bowl this line and continue to ruin his stats, so Yuvraj was drafted in. First 4 balls fetch 4 singles. This is pointless now. No pressure and singles all the way. This is Chinese water torture of the dripping run-bleeding kind. Finally, 5 singles in the over.

Dhoni looks bereft of ideas now. Mishra continues with his line outside leg-stump, which gets padded away by Mahela. The lead sits at 65 runs. There are 32 overs left in the day's play today. That's a long time to be bowling three feet outside the rough. Two maidens in a row for Mishra now.

3:19am: Yuvraj finally induces an outside edge from Mahela but there is no slip to catch it and it races away to the third man fence. Mahela is on 149, and dabs the next ball to the afore-mentioned third man fence for another four and another score over 150, the 12th of his career. Sri Lanka's 500 comes up, and Prasanna is waiting on 49 now.

3:21am: Prasanna gets to 50 with a single off a no-ball (another one for Mishra). 5 runs in the over takes them to 505 for 5 in 130 overs. Prasanna on 51, Mahela on 155.

3:26am: Laxman does the Kumble dive, Yuvraj gives singles to midwicket, Mahela cuts a four to the fence. Even the commentators are finding it hard to inject excitement into their voices. Where's Sivaramakrishnan when you need him? 514 for 5 in 132 overs, Prasanna is 53, Mahela 162.

3:30am: Sachin Tendulkar sighting. Naturally, the crowd wakes up. Of late he has taken to bowling to an inside-outside field, so thats what we get.

Obligatory SRT Milestone watch: Sachin needs 1 more wicket to reach 200 international wickets.

6 runs off that over, without a sweat. 520 for 5 in 133 overs. At least the crowd wakes up now.

Double leg-spin attack and, right on cue, Sivaramakrishnan comes back into the attack commentary booth.

3:37am: Sachin resorts to the leg-stump line, too. This is a waste of his bowling, I think. Russell Arnold finally says it - if we thought Murali bowled badly, watching Harbhajan bowling showed us that Murali was not that bad. (Editor's note: At this point, Arnold also had another less-than-complimentary thing to say about Harbhajan's performance and I shall lead the Day 4 diary with that statement since it was right on the money.)

Prasanna jumps out, misses the ball, which spins so viciously it goes straight to first slip. Dravid throws down the stumps but Prasanna made it back in time. Prasanna goes to sweep the last ball and misses it completely. Luckily he is struck on the full outside the leg-stump.

Say what you will about the man, Tendulkar the bowler makes things happen.

The lead is approaching 100 runs now. Mishra continues his leg-stump line.

3:53am: Plenty of outside the leg-stump stuff from both bowlers. Runs coming in trickles now but coming nevertheless. 531 for 5 in 139 overs, Prasanna on 60 Mahela on 172. The last ball by Tendulkar was a beauty, spinning from outside the leg-stump, beating Mahela's forward prod and just sliding past the off-stump.

Drinks taken. 21 overs left, Sri Lanka leads by 105 runs.

The last hour and a half of play was a battle of attrition. After a while wrting about it got repetitive, as it was a whole bunch of drip-drip run-making, and even more attempts to strangle the runs with a spread field (to prevent boundaries) and bowling wide of the stumps or onto the legs with a packed field.

Sri Lanka still made steady progress and since India did not look like it was even trying to take wickets, they did not help out either. The only dose of excitement came as Jayawardene neared his double century. The field came in and Mahela had to wait all of five balls to move from 199 to 200, his 6th double century in Tests. Those five balls showed me (but probably not the Indian team) that putting a few more people close to the bat could have prevented some of the singles that were taken.

Prasanna Jayawardene was still around, settling down after a hectic start, ending the day within 16 runs of a century.

Sri Lanka is leading by 165 runs, still has 5 wickets in hand, and the new ball will be due in a couple of overs. If India does not limit the damage to under 200 (and they will not if they come out with a defensive mindset in the morning tomorrow), Murali and co will be lying in wait in the second innings, when survival instincts will be called upon. And that is not the best time to be a Tendulkar fan.

On that note, good night.

Last night, or rather, early this morning when I finished the diary for the day, I clicked on the "Save as Draft" button rather than the "Publish post" button and shut down my computer. I apologize if you came and saw the truncated diary and assumed I had given up watching.

Running diary - Day 1: Dravid shows the way yet again

This is a running diary that I will keep updating periodically with random thoughts as and when they occur during the day's play of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka being played at Ahmedabad (November 16-20, 2009). I shall keep it in chronological order so the latest additions will be at the tail end of the diary. Also, since this is being done on the fly, excuse the spelling and grammatical mistakes.

10:00pm: Dhoni wins the toss, bats first. Somewhere Steve Waugh frets that his legacy of winning the toss and bowling is dead. Sri Lanka drops Mendis, ignoring precedence for pragmatism. On current form, Herath is Sri Lanka's best spinner. Current form, JAN, before you send me an email!

And so it begins...Test cricket is back. Phew!

First ball, single to Gabhir - drop and run.
Second ball, four to Sehwag, eases into the type of cover-drive that Tendulkar avoided like a monk in his 241 not out in Sydney years ago.

Sehwag is irrepressible, as always. No sense of occasion or decorum. If the ball is there to be hit, he hits it, game situation be dammed.

Dammika Prasad took 5 wickets on debut against India. Looks like the word "bustling" was coined for him.

10:10pm: Dammika bowls a wide ball that goes between first and second slip, and the keeper is penalized with the byes? I don't quite understand why a wide ball in Tests is so much more severe than one in ODI's. Who were the first umpires to decide this? How did this "norm" get started? How on earth was Prasanna Jayawardene expected to collect that ball?

10:17pm: Gambhir goes! Lately, he has developed this habit of playing under his nose, looking simply to nudge for singles here and there. It caught up with him in the ODI's and it looks like it has crossed over to the Tests, too. 14 for 1, Gambhir out for 1.

10:18pm: Rahul Dravid comes in. I hope he does not go into a shell simply because an early wicket has fallen.

The first 4 Indian batsmen average over 50 an innings, the next averages over 45, and the next two average over 35 (Yuvraj and Dhoni). Surely a line-up as strong as this has no business putting up less than 450 runs in the first innings.

Dammika Prasad has appealed twice for LBW's and both times you could see all three stumps. Sehwag responds as only he can - a square drive for 4. Simple strategy - see ball, hit ball.

10:26pm: Good field set for Dravid - 3 slips and a forward short-leg. End result - "The first maiden of the innings," bellows Ravi Shastri. Predictable, really.

10:30pm: By the way, in case you were stranded on a deserted island or were otherwise busy contemplating the meaning of life and did not hear the news - Sachin Tendulkar has completed 20 years of service to Indian cricket. He used to be 7 feet tall, but is only 5'4" now. That's because he has been "carrying the hopes of a billion people" for two decades. Never mind that India did not even have a billion people when he began his career. In fact, that did not happen till 2001.

10:33pm: Stop the presses! Rahul Dravid stretches way out and cover drives for four off Prasad. Beware Dravid, this is the same ball that Mitchell Johnson kept getting you out with in Australia last year.

10:35pm: Tight call by the umpire, but the right call, and Sehwag goes LBW to Welegedara. The stage is set for Sachin Tendulkar to come in at 27 for 2. Let the countdown to 30,000 runs begin.

Sachin comes, scores a four first ball, Gavaskar praises his footwork saying he is playing really well, misses an in-swinger third ball and Gavaskar complains about his footwork and bat speed. 31 for 3 and Laxman comes in to bat. Sri Lanka gets three big wickets!

Three of the 4 50-plus average guys are gone. So much for that!

10:46: Laxman gone for duck!!! Ghosts of the previous Test match that India played on this very same venue, when they were all out for 76 in less than 20 overs, come dancing out. Yuvraj Singh gets his chance to prove, once and for all, that he belongs in the Test arena.

My week just got off to a very bad start. *sigh*

The Wall stands between Sri Lanka and 76 all out. I can't believe that just a few minutes ago I was worried he would bat too slowly and affect the flow of Sehwag's batting!

By the way, Muralitharan has not even touched the ball and 4 big guns are gone.

Yuvraj does what Yuvraj does best - edge the ball, reaching for it, to third man and then follows it up with the most exquisite cover drive imaginable. He is the ultimate double agent - teasing the fans of both teams at the same time!

11:00pm: First hour goes to India. Just checking to see if you are still reading. Of course it goes to Sri Lanka. Phew! This is definitely not the start I imagined when I heard that India had won the toss. A few years ago I saw Pakistan being reduced to 39 for 6 and then going on to win by 341 runs. Let's see if India has a similar get-out-of-jail performance in her.

11:10pm: Nobody times the ball better than Yuvraj Singh. A simple flick of the wrists and he beats deep square-leg who was just a few yards away from the ball. The expression, "when he hits them, they stay hit," definitely applies to him.

Angelo Matthews comes in to bowl. He reminds me of Abdur Razzaq, a fellow who will probably never run through a batting line-up but will hang around mostly because of his ODI "all-rounder" tag. 9 runs in that over, about right for the line he was bowling. 62 for 4.

I sense that Muralitharan will be joining us soon.

Another 4 to the vacant third man area. It seems like a memo is sent out to every Test captain that third man should be left unattended so batsmen can get runs in a fair clip whenever they beat the slips. And it is not a new thing either. I was watching highlights of a Greg Chappell-Ian Chappell innings in an Ashes Test and the same thing happened then, too.

By the way, there is no third man, but there is a sweeper cover. Go figure.

11:20PM: Murali comes on to bowl the 15th over of the day - 67 runs on the board. The surprising thing for him surely has to be that 4 wickets are down. It has been a morning full of highlights - 11 fours and 4 wickets - and all that in just 80 minutes. First ball is a bad full toss. I don't think I have ever seen him bowl a ball that full. No run, no harm done.


(CricInfo 2008)Prasanna Jayawardene is keeping to Murali and I am looking forward to this. Prasanna is, by a fair margin, the best keeper playing international cricket in the world today. Nice soft hands while he collects the ball and almost invariably well-balanced when doing so.

By the way, somewhere Steve Waugh is sitting back and nodding sagely. Hindsight has supported his view about what to do when you win the toss.


Murali has bowled more than 61,000 balls in international cricket alone. That's a lot of bowling. Those 10,000 plus overs have fetched him over 1300 wickets. Wow.

11:35pm: Ravi Shastri resorts to that all-too familiar fallback option to describe why the Sri Lankans have been so successful today - "they have bowled in the right areas." What exactly are these right areas? Heaven alone knows because that is never explained by the experts.

11:37pm: Sweet, sweet straight drive by Yuvraj off Murali for a four. The cat-and-mouse game has begun. Murali has that same aura about him that Warne cultivated so assiduously, which is that even when they are hit for boundaries it appears as if it is a part of a big plan to lull the batsmen into their trap.

11:40pm: First no-ball of the Test from Murali. No free hit, though. That is reserved for ODI's. Thankfully, Yuvraj realizes that and no harm done off the next ball.

11:42pm: Matthews preying on Dravid's patience. Must be a new tactic against Dravid. Haven't seen that one before. And then blots the plot by bowling full on his pads - three runs later, Dravid takes a breather at the non-striker's end.

A gem of a stat from CricInfo: Yuvraj's three centuries (so far in tests) have come when India were 4 for 94, 74 and 61. Meanwhile, not surprisingly, we are informed by the TV commentators that Yuvraj is hitting it straight to the fielders (as if we cannot see that for ourselves).

(By the way, there will be plenty of digs at the television commentators. If you are not in the mood for that, I apologize in advance).

11:46pm Murali goes round the wicket to Dravid, 20 balls into his spell. Harbhajan would do well to pick up tips from Murali about changing his line of attack, trying to make things happen, rather than just firing them onto middle-leg stump, trying to set up the doosra.

11:48pm: Gavaskar reminds the batsmen that there are 15 minutes to lunch, no doubt mentally shutting down for the break just as he was wont to do when he was batting.

India crosses two milestones in one over - 76 runs and 21 overs. Supporters of the "history repeats itself" principle can find other historical precedents to lust after.

In comes Rangana Herath. And Dravid dances down the wicket and hits a six over long-on. I repeat: Dravid dances down the wicket and hits a six over long-on. How momentous is that? It is just the 16th six in 135 Test matches for him.

Yuvraj takes the next ball on the full and drives it as straight as he can to the long-off fence. Yes, they are definitely playing for lunch. 96 for 4. India trotting along at 4.3 runs an over.

The best antidote to losing wickets is to score runs. Time to start dusting out the "this is the New India - the aggressive India" storyline.

11:57pm: Probably the last over before lunch. The 24th over of the innings, an average of 12 an hour. THIS is one of the biggest tragedies of Test cricket, but all the ICC does is to levy some "10% of match fees" fines that the captains don't even sweat about (except for one famous occasion when Ricky Ponting saved his wallet and lost a chance to win a Test).

11:59pm: Sri Lanka squeeze in another over. Goody. Dravid still punching away to cover. No signs of listening to Gavaskar, who once again reminds everyone that lunch is around the corner. No wonder Gavaskar lost or drew 38 of the 47 Tests he captained. (I know I am being unkind and that there were other extenuating factors, including the lack of Kumble and Tendulkar under his wing, but still, don't let facts get in the way of a good story).

12:01am: Lunch. Day 1. India 105 for 4 in 25 overs. Session advantage Sri Lanka, but the second hour belonged to Dravid and Yuvraj, who are batting on 45 and 35, respectively.

12:40am: Lunch is done. In the meantime I discovered some videos on youtube that my friends (and I emphasize the MY component) will enjoy watching.

12:52am: Yuvraj is getting a little expansive with his cover driving Ominous signs for both sides.

Cleverly, Welegedara teases Yuvraj with a wide ball. The fish did not nibble at it this time. Followed it up with a length ball on off-stump. Yubraj studiously defends. Next ball - bouncer! Yuvraj sways out of the way, dropping his gloves as he does so. Then one that comes in and Yuvraj inner edges it onto his pads, drops safely to the leg-side! Ahhhh! This is Test cricket and this is why I love Test cricket. 107 for 4 in 27 overs.

Rahul Dravid needs 4 runs to reach 21,000 first-class runs. Strangely, no countdown for that...and even as I type that he reaches 50 and 21,000 runs! I may be the only person who noticed that today. The Wall goes on. 50 in 80 balls, full of his trademark flick-drives to midwicket. Like so:

(CricInfo 2008)

1:04am: Hah! The commentators do pick up on Dravid's 21,000 runs but they say he is nearing it when, in fact, he has crossed it. Trust me. (Okay, so I wasn't the only person in the world who had an eye out for that stat).

1:06am: Ah! That dreaded edge for a four to third man strikes again - Yuvraj gets four more runs. India scoring in boundaries since lunch. 126 for 4 in 30 overs.

11:10am: The ball is still swinging, but it is late swing and only to balls that are fully pitched up. The venom of the morning when it was swinging even from a short of good length is missing now. I think Sangakkara needs to go with Herath and Murali for a while until it is time for some reverse swing to come into play. And, historically, Yuvraj prefers playing faster bowlers to spin bowlers.

The batsmen in the pavilion must be kicking themselves for not surviving that early part of the morning.

Since BRB/AV says I don't highlight the feats of non-SRT players enough, here's a countdown for you - Dravid needs another 118 runs to reach 11,000 Test runs. Make that 114, after a square-cut that Vishy would have been proud of. 100 partnership comes up in 24 overs.

77th 100-run partnership for Dravid, extending his own world record in this category, ahead of Ponting (75) and Tendulkar. By the way, there have been 3751 partnerships in Tests of over 100 runs. (Here's the complete list, courtesy Statsguru on CricInfo).

1:22am: Another slash to the third man fence fetches him his 50. And he celebrates with the best off-drive of the day - with all the flair that Yuvraj brings to the shot when he times it like only he can. That's his 10th score of 50-plus in 46 innings in test cricket. Time to kick on and keep going and add to his 3 centuries. No impending milestone to attain, though, unless you want to dig really deep and say that he needs another 41 runs to reach 16,000 runs in all forms of cricket. (Oh yes, I can keep playing this milestone game all day long!)

1:27am: Murali in the attack, 17 wickets short of 800. Not going to get it in this match, for sure, as there are just 16 wickets left to take. Yuvraj says hello and thumps him 2 bounces to the long-on fence and then smashes forward short-leg with a ferocious sweep. Ouch. Then leaves a doosra but no harm done as it did not turn enough to come back onto the stumps. Interesting battle this.

I remember when Richard Hadlee became the first man to reach 400 Test wickets. I never imagined that within 20 years we'd be talking about a man snaring double that number. Wow!

1:32am: Yuvraj gets hit by a bouncer for the second time today, this time by Matthews. Does not flinch or rub the spot. Not surprisingly, the next ball is a short one and he pulls. Only, this time he inside-edges the ball and it barely misses the stumps to reach the fence. Somewhere, Laxman fans wonder why their man was not so lucky when he inside-edged the ball earlier today. The next ball is short again, and this time he upper-cuts it to the vacant third man fence for a one bounce four.

An obligatory "good over for India" comment from Sivaramakrishnan puts the exclamation mark on it. 157 for 4 in 36 overs. For those of you at home who don't know how Test cricket operates, there's an additional 54 overs left in the day's play. For those of you that do not know how Test cricket operates, you will not see another 54 overs bowled in the rest of the day today.

1:36am: Softest of dismissals for Yuvraj, walking down the wicket and trying to dab the ball on the off-side, instead getting an inner-edge that balloons to short cover, where Dilshan takes the easiest catch of his life. He was walking even before the Dilshan caught the ball. Murali opens his खाता (account). 157 for 5.

Dhoni comes rushing in to bat, adjusts his gloves, hat, pad (Raman Lamba-style or Nomar Garciaparra-style, depending upon what's in your memory bank) and then waits for Murali, who promptly goes round the wicket to him with a forward short-leg in place. I shall let you know when the words "Dhoni" "hard hands" or "bottom-handed" are uttered in the same sentence. Shastri is in the box, so it should be coming soon.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Dhoni needs 38 runs to reach the 2,000 mark in Tests.

Dravid has played 100 balls and scored 65 runs. Ponting-esque and that makes me happy. This is the type of batting I want him to do, which was missing these past couple of years while he searched for runs.

1:46am: Dhoni marches down the wicket to Murali and thumps the ball to the fielder - no run. Next balls, waltzes down again but just nudges it to the same fielder and ambles a single. Smart, very smart (Ajit-style, please).

Dravid then lofts Murali over Dilshan's head at short-midwicket for another boundary. Good intent from the Wall. It's got to be the aggressive New India, no?

I like this wicket - there is sufficient bounce to keep fast bowlers and spinners happy. There is swing for the fuller-length bowlers, and there is some slight spin for the tweakers. Of course, to take advantage of this pitch you must land the ball. Prasad does not do so, bowls a full-toss, and Dhoni uses his "bottom-hand" to cover drive for four.

Okay, at 1:53am, the words "Dhoni" and "bottom-handed" are used for the first time by Bruce Yardley, 14 balls and 13 minutes into his innings.

Dhoni hits it Sachin-Chennai-circa 2001 style for four. A straight drive behind the keeper for four. Here's Hamish Blair's brilliant image that captured the original moment.

(Getty Images 2001)

2:01am: Rahul Dravid does sweat a lot, doesn't he? As he waits for the ball to be bowled, drops of sweat come dripping down the end of his visor. I am surprised the ICC does not pull him up for damaging the "danger area". Dravid thumps Murali wide of midwicket, albeit uppishly, for another four. Dravid does seem to have left the horrors of last year behind him now.

Murali is doing what I constantly berate Harbhajan for doing - bowl on the middle and leg stump. But there is a difference here in that Murali is coming round-the-wicket and looking to either get the LBW or a bat-pad catch to forward short-leg. Somehow he is bowling the same line that Harbhajan does and is making it an offensive rather than a defensive option.

2:06am: Danger alert. Dravid is starting to reach for balls wide outside the off-stump and driving them to cover. These are balls that he normally leaves well alone. Gets a four this time to go to 80, taking India to 189 for 5. Prasad compensates by bowling it full and, yes, that flick-drive to midwicket is unfurled for a single. Okay, danger moment has passed, Dravid is at the non-strikers end. Time for Herath to come into the attack at this end.

2:10am: Dravid has hit a lot of good shots, but this is his best - an inside-out cover drive to the fence after making room by sliding to the leg-side, off Murali who bowled this from over the wicket. 196 for 5, Darvid 85, Dhoni 17.

2:13am: And Herath into the attack. "India needs another partnership here," suggests Sivaramakrishnan helpfully. Sangakkara has the Ponting field for Herath. If you ignore the fielders in the catching positions, the rest are too deep to prevent singles but not deep enough to stop the lofted shots to the fence. And Dhoni shows him what I mean by jumping down and hitting one over cover for four, after Dravid took a single deep mid-on.

2:16am: The first mention of the slow over-rate by the Lankans and the "option" that captains have of taking an extra half-hour to complete them is mentioned. I think the solution is to make the transgressing team bowl the extra half-hour, but deduct runs from their total when they come to bat next. That would speed up the over rate in a jiffy.

2:18am: The fascinating sight of sweat dripping from Dravid's visor will have to wait as both batsmen opt for caps since two spinners are in tandem at the wicket.

By the way, JAN, it is okay to be a little worried now. 203 for 5 in 47 overs, Dravid 87, Dhoni 22.

2:22am: Herath bowls with a lot of loop and flight, always tempting the batsman. Pretty to watch.

2:25am: Finally, Murali shows up. The first over of the innings by the Kandy Man that showcased his skill, ending with a doosra that slipped past Dravid's defense and would have hit the middle stump if the back leg was not in the way. (Murali was bowling round the wicket, and pitching it outside the leg-stump, so no LBW appeal).

2:27am: The words "Dhoni" and "soft hands" are used in the same sentence by Sivaramakrishnan, (as the captain taps Herath to short cover for a simple single). Probably the first time in recorded history this has happened. Wonders never cease.

By the way, the 50 of the partnership has come up in 14 overs. Dravid's contribution: 24, Dhoni's contribution: 25.

2:31am: Another doosra beats Dravid, the second consecutive ball from Murali that he has not spotted the variation. This one slips by the off-stump and Prasanna calmly collects behind the stumps. Is Dravid thinking of the 100? Methinks that may have entered the equation here, possibly explaining his recent twitchiness.

2:24am: Gavaskar points out that only 6 runs have come in the last 5 overs. Yes, good pick up by him but he does not continue that thought and link it with Dravid's milestone as I thought he would. Instead he says that this shows how Sri Lanka have pulled things back and contained India. I can buy that, too. The bowling has started to look a little dangerous, too.

2:37am: Dravid spots the doosra and drives the ball to the mid-off boundary. 216 for 5, 94 to Dravid, 28 to Dhoni. Another doosra and this time Dravid edges it just short of slip. Sivaramakrishnan reminds the viewer that Dravid knows that milestones are not as important as the team. Was Gavaskar paying attention to him when he said that?

2:40am: Dravid square-cuts Herath to the fence to get to 98. The shot reminded me of the one he hit to win the Adelaide Test during Steve Waugh's swansong series.

That's tea. 98 Dravid, 29 for Dhoni. 116 runs in the session in 29 overs for the loss of Yuvraj's wicket. This session belonged to India, both hours.

Things are looking a lot better for India than they did 45 minutes into the game. Sri Lanka is one wicket away from stealing the first day's honors. A twenty minute break beckons while I rest my fingers and read some Wodehouse (Very Good, Jeeves).

2:59am: They are back and taking their positions on the field. I'd like to see a couple of overs of Welegedara while Dravid is in the 90's. Let's see if Sangakkara thinks the same way as I do.

3:03am: First mention of Dhoni's 2,000 run mark. (You'd forgotten about that, hadn't you?). Now he is 5 runs away by my count, having started after tea with a hard-hit straight drive to the fence off Murali.

3:05am: Herath continues. Dravid on 98. Single off the first ball takes him...you know. Dhoni farms the strike for the rest of the over. Dravid has to wait.

3:09am: Murali switching to round the wicket now. Gets a maiden as a reward. Puts Dravid on strike, and the crowd wakes up. I predict he gets a single off the second ball of the over.

3:12am: I was wrong. He gets it off the first ball. Goes past Garry Sobers with his 27th century, off 158 balls. That's his 57th first class century. Good innings. Very good. As I mentioned earlier, Ponting-esque. The last ball of the same over sees Dhoni reach 2,000 Test runs, with a typical double to a ball placed a few feet from the square-leg umpire.. The celebration is a lot more muted, however. Nobody judges the two to the square-leg region better than Dhoni, in my opinion.

3:16am: Shastri says, "No need to try anything out of the blue." Even as he finishes the statement, Dhoni comes dancing down and deposits Murali into the stands behind long-on! Shastri, to his credit, breaks into a laugh. Dravid then punches down the ground for another boundary and Murali's figures are starting to scatter again after a few tight overs in the middle. 244 for 5, Dravid 104, Dhoni 45. 59 overs. Partnership is at 87 runs now. Dravid driving towards another 100-run partnership.

By the way, Dravid has a thick stubble. I don't think I have ever seen him so unkempt before.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Dravid needs another 73 runs to reach 11,000 runs. Ahead of him are Border, Ponting, Lara, and Tendulkar.

3:22am: Welegedara back in the attack. Dhoni walks down the wicket and defends. This is a typical Dhoni tactic to counter any swing and to remove an LBW from the equation. Only other person I have seen who does this regularly is Brendon MacCallum. Welegedara's pace has fallen to the mid-120's. Hmmm, has he been talking to the Indian bowling coaches during the lunch break? Dhoni launches into an over-pitched ball, smashing it to deep cover, and reaches his 50 (off 80 balls; a slower rate than Dravid has been batting at, by the way). Good, good knock. Still about 100 less than he should be content with. 249 for 5 in 61 overs, Dravid 104, Dhoni 50.

3:27am: Dravid continues, with an exquisite skip down the wicket to drive it inside-out through cover for 4. Dhoni survives a strange-looking ball. Herath bowled it with a change in action, just flipped it straight through without his full-motion and bowled it with (replays showed and Russell Arnold pointed out) two fingers. The ball clips his pad, strikes Prasanna in the chest and not out says Harper, rightly so, too.

This is Dhoni's 18th score of 50 or above in 60 innings. Contrast that with Yuvraj, who has 10 in 46 innings and it tells you a tale. Not a complete one (because Yuvraj was made to open in a few of those) but still a telling one.

3:34am: Another 100 run partnership for Dravid, the 78th of his career, 3 clear of Ponting now. Yup, milestone-watch is in full flow now. 259 for 5 in 64 overs. Dravid 113, Dhoni 51.

3:39am: Another double to short midwicket for the master of this skill, taking him to 54.

3:45am: Dhoni and Dravid are starting to pile it on. a 2,3,4,.,.,1 over from Herath. 278 for 5 in 66 overs. 123 for Dravid, 60 for Dhoni. Prasad coming into the attack. 14 overs to go for the new ball and Sangakkara is forced to use his pacers already. Interesting choice, this.

3:48am: Dhoni gets L-U-C-K-Y. A thick outside edge goes between the keeper and a wide first slip to the fence. The shot that I was warning Dravid to be careful about earlier in the day is the one that Dhoni nearly perished to.

3:49am: Prasad pitches it short, and Dravid swivels and pulls it beautifully to the fence (yes, once again it reminds me of Adelaide and how he played Jason Gillespie that day). 67 runs in the post-tea session for India in just 13 overs. But for the loss of those 4 early wickets, this has been a wonderfully paced display of batting today by India.

3:57am: Dammika, Dammika. If you have just beaten Dravid with a bouncer, then don't follow it up with a yorker that he can convert into a half-volley and smash you to the straight fence. This tactic was fine the first few times you tried it, but now it is very predictable, and Dravid too experienced.

4:01am: Drinks break. 70 overs gone, 20 to bowl in one hour (hah!), 299 for 5, Dravid 134, Dhoni 70. Dhoni's career average is inching towards 40 now.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Dravid needs 43 runs for 11,000 Test runs.

4:10am: Dhoni greets Dammika Prasad with a stinging cover drive in the Sehwag stand-and-deliver mode. Runs coming quite freely now. But they have to keep it up till the close of play and not give the advantage back to the Sri Lankans.

4:15am: This is looking all too familiar. Sri Lanka has a middle-overs-of-an-ODI field, and Dravid and Dhoni just milked 5 singles in the last over. Dhoni is standing a good 5 feet outside the crease and walks further down to meet the ball. Matthews is not the threat the selectors thought he'd be, I suppose.

4:23am: Wonders never cease. Murali has now resorted to bowling the Harbhajan line! Yikes, it looks like Murali is learning from Harbhajan when I was hoping it would be vice versa. Still it does not stop the Indians from taking 4 singles in the over. Typical.

316 for 5 in 74 overs. Dravid 138, Dhoni 83.

4:43am: The dripping visor of Rahul Dravid is back!! And so is his cover drive and then his square drive, both for fours. Dravid motors along to 148 now.

And then two balls later, he gets to 150. What a player. Yardley helpfully tells us that it is his 10th score of over 150 (out of 27 centuries) in his career. And yes, the world-record holder is Tendulkar with 19. 150 in 216 balls (strike rate of 70). Yup, yup, yup...Ponting-esque. Dhoni is on 85. India at 330 for 5 in 75 overs.

4:40am: Seeing-seeing (देखते-देखते) the partnership is quietly worth 183 runs, and Dhoni has reached 89 on his own, Dravid is on 156. 340 for 5 in 79 overs.

4:45am: Dravid in enjoying himself now, taking two fours off a visibly-tiring Murali. The ball is getting shorter and shorter in length, and it is turning into a long day for Sri Lanka. 349 for 5 in 80 overs, 164 for Dravid, 90 to Dhoni.

Dravid and Dhoni are still running hard, pinching a single to short square-leg.

4:49am: Tillakratne Dilshan into the attack now. I am a little worried, actually, as I rate his wicket-taking ability more than Sangakkara does. Three singles in the over and Sangakkara says enough is enough, and asks for the new ball.

8 overs to go in the day's play. Dhoni continues walking down the wicket. Negating the LBW in my opinion. Shastri thinks it is to counter the swing. Well, big appeal for LBW but not given. Tony Hill says no and also does not signal leg-byes. I think walking down the wicket saved Dhoni. That, and the fact that the umpire thought that Dhoini edged the ball.

By the way, Dravid needs just 10 runs to reach 11,000. Dhoni needs 5 for his second Test hundred. "Milestone central, this blog is becoming," says Yoda. 200 run partnership it is now. Nice turnaround for India.

Also, the two "commentators" on CricInfo's ball-by-ball commentary website are Jamie Alter and Siddharth Monga. Grrrrr.....how I envy them.

4:55am: The high point of this Dravid innings has been that he has never gotten into a shell, always looking to score runs allaying all my fears.

4:59am: Dhoni square-cuts fiercely and over point to get to 99 with a boundary. One run from a brilliant century. A well-deserved one, too.

5:05am: Jayawardene is standing up to the stumps to Welegedara in order to stop Dhoni from wandering down the wicket, without a helmet at that. Dhoni pats away five straight deliveries as the crowd groans each time. The crowd pans over all the hopeful Mrs. Dhoni's in the crowd and there are quite a few of them today.

5:07am: Herath comes on to bowl the new ball. Interesting move this. Dravid takes a single and the field comes in for Dhoni and he gets to his century with a shimmy down the wicket, and a cover drive to the fence (154 balls). The crowd cheers wildly and lets him know how much they enjoyed it. So did I, so did I.

Captaincy has really brought out the responsible side of Dhoni and India is so much the better for it. 369 for 5 in 86 overs. Dravid on 170, Dhoni on 104

5:11am: A simple shimmy down the wicket, a casual push and Dhoni helps himself to another boundary to the cover fence off Welegedara. After taking 6 balls to go from 99 to 100, he has taken 4 balls to get another his last 10 runs. Funny game.

Bouncer. Pull for four. Beautiful wrist-work. Dravid moves to 174. Yup, yup, yup...Ponting-esque. By the way, his dripping visor makes its appearance again.

5:15am: Dravid is on 175. A few days ago, another Indian made the same score. Different circumstances. Different result? Only time will tell. 3 overs to go. 381 for 5, in 87 overs. Dravid 175, Dhoni 110.

5:17am: Dammika Prasad gets Dhoni slashing at his first ball and the captain perishes, caught behind for 110. This ends a 224 run partnership in 51 overs (Dravid contributed 111 to this partnership...truly a partnership in the best sense of the word).

161 runs in this session in 33 overs for 1 wicket. Perfect from India's point of view. The focus now shifts to Dravid's 11,000 run milestone, 2 runs to go.

I need to scrounge up some milestone for Harbhajan Singh, the batsman, don't I? Okay, let this over go by and then I will find something, I promise.

Obligatory Non-SRT Milestone watch: Harbhajan Singh needs another 95 runs to reach 3000 first-class runs. Too much? Okay, how about this? He needs another 2 runs to get to 1,500 Test runs.

5:24am: Dravid gets to 11,000 runs. Like there was any doubt he'd get there when he started this morning (cough, cough). The Wall was indeed the Wall of old today. A wonderful innings to watch. He needs to convert this to a triple century tomorrow, assuming the others can hang around long enough with him.

5:28 am: 385 for 6, Dravid on 177, Harbhajan on 2. One over to go in the day's play. And Dravid nearly runs himself out backing too far off the first ball. But the throw misses the stumps and no harm done.

Aah!!! Sivaramakrishnan mentions that another single will get Harbhajan to 1,500 runs! Copycat.

Harbhajan refuses two singles in the over, clearly shielding Dravid from facing any more balls in the last over of the day. Dravid has earned it with a sterling display today.

385 for 6 in 90 overs. The most runs ever scored by an Indian team in the first day of a Test match (and maybe any single day's play). What an unexpected stat when the team was 32 for 4, 45 minutes into the day.

Sri Lanka did as well as they could possibly have. They exploited the early swing to pick up wickets, but once the pitch eased out, the positive-minded Dravid, Yuvraj, and Dhoni took it away.

Dravid stays not out on 177 off 251 balls, 26 fours, 1 six. No doubt who the hero of the day has been.

Okay, it's been a fun day's play, full of the ebbs and flows that are unique to Test cricket. Now it is time to get a few hours of sleep before work beckons.

Good night (or good morning).