Hullabaloo at Eden Gardens

9,209,43. What do you reckon comes next? Turns out, 35. The first South African wicket fell at 9. Then the second wicket partnership added 209. Seven wickets then fell in the space of 43 runs. And the tenth wicket partnership added 35 (a pretty sloppy show by the Indians this morning). All said, a topsy-turvy series of events. How I wish I had been able to watch the post-tea session as it unfolded yesterday. To think that Sharma and Mishra picked up their first wickets of the series, that Harbhajan put himself on a hat-trick again at the Eden Gardens (and a non-bogus one at that, given how awful Gilchrist's LBW was at Kolkata in 2001), that Zaheer triggered a run-out with a direct-hit, and that Harris paid the price for getting distracted by a fast bowler. All in front of a crowd of "only" 35,000, small for the Eden Gardens, and yet big enough to pack any ground in England.

There are lots of reasons to dislike living on the East Coast. Missing this test's post-tea session because of the timezones will get added to that list.

Needless to say, I've been looking forward to the Indian batting response in this test, starting with the openers, and the next hour or so should be enthralling. Viru has already started off with a bang.

If only Laxman Sivramakrishnan weren't commentating.