A little twist

My first reaction on staggering out this morning and bringing the desktop to screen to life, was alarm: Pathan was heading back to the pavilion. Were India already down to their tail? A closer look at the score revealed otherwise. I didn't expect this late charge by India obviously, and neither did the English (well, perhaps they did; they're cricketers, and I'm just a fan). For the past couple of overs, I'd have said the Indian strategy was to let Dhoni blast away while Tendulkar nudged away for singles. Of course, Tendulkar's assault on Blackwell seemed to set that strategy on its head before Dhoni holed out at long-on. My guess is that the game is back to heading for a draw (even though ostensibly Harbhajan has been sent out to continue to blast away). Here we go - as Singh is bowled. Thats it, I reckon. The last 10 overs will now be a grim session of blocking away as India will have to hold on.

What India needed was for one of these two men, Pathan or Dhoni to have stayed. But tests are very different from one-days in all sorts of ways. And with the offering of the light, thats it.