You have to doff your hat to Gilly and Hayden

I think we will leave Mumbai on sweet 16 as far as our victory run is concerned. However, you don’t know with cricket until the game is well and truly over. Things are looking good for us and if we have a good session tomorrow [Thursday] morning, we might not even have to bat again.

At this point, the first session on Day Three is extremely important. If we get the next two or three wickets early, the game might finish off tomorrow itself, but that is easier said than done when you have class batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in front.

It did not seem so happy in the morning though. At 99 for five, the dressing room was fairly quiet since we were still 77 runs adrift of India’s total. However, we were confident that with Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist there, all was not lost. After their partnership of nearly 200, both told me that the first 15 minutes after getting in were fairly tough. Once that period had elapsed, they said, playing on the pitch was easy.

Another factor favouring us at that stage was that Gilly was at the crease. We knew that if he got going he would score quickly and that was exactly what happened. Scoring 150-plus runs at over six an over in a Test is no mean achievement, and you have to doff your hat to Gilly and Hayden for making it happen. That period of play is why we are in the driver’s seat.

As far as our bowling performance yesterday is concerned, it was quite satisfying, personally. I started out by bowling a little short-pitched; there was a little bit in the wicket and I knew Indians don’t like it near the ribs. The ploy worked as I got Ramesh early. Later, I went back to the corridor of uncertainty bowling and fortunately for me that worked too.

It was very enjoyable to get the wicket of Tendulkar once again. He showed what a class player he is and played some great shots in the period immediately after lunch. I was happy that I came back to claim Laxman's wicket, as that was the turning point, because it broke the momentum they had just achieved. And when I followed two short-pitched ones with one outside the off-stump it was wonderfull to see the edge from Tendulkar flying to Gilly.

It was also satisfying to get Ramesh in the second innings. He thought I would be giving him short-pitched stuff and hence succumbed to my normal line. The fact that Nayan Mongia seems badly injured makes it one wicket less for us.

I think we will have to stick to our gameplan in the first session tomorrow,. We have two class players to dislodge and we will have to bowl as well as we did on Day One. If they get off to a good start they can score runs fairly rapidly and that will not do our cause any good. I relish the possibility of having another go at Tendulkar, and, as usual, it will be a pitched battle. He loves scoring and I love trying the patience of attacking players.

For my part I will keep it nice and simple: Keep the ball along the same line and build pressure.

(Gameplan)

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