Ab Tak 56

The day’s proceedings mirrored the first day’s play. The ever-improving Irfan Pathan (14) merits as much mention as Sehwag for the manner in which he thwarted the Aussie attack in the first hour of play. Compact in defence, the young lad rarely put a foot wrong during a 55-run alliance. His senior partner too traded flashiness for correctness as they went about building a strong foundation.

An error in judging a wrong ’un brought about Pathan’s dismissal and the world record for Warne but by then Pathan had fullfilled the task assigned to him. Unfortunately, none of the other premier batsmen displayed similar attributes: patience and perseverance. Rahul Dravid (26) did settle in, but only just. And for too little time.

Sehwag then single-handedly dealt with the Australian attack as an out-of-sorts Sourav Ganguly (9) and a tentative VVS Laxman (4) perished in the last session.

‘‘I always knew that once I scored a fifty, I could get a hundred. It was a matter of spending time at the crease,’’ Sehwag said, stressing, ‘‘nothing’s changed in my batting.’’

The Sehwag of old returned once he had crossed the 80s, as balls flew around the park with some getting too close to fielders for comfort. ‘‘Maybe my shot selection could have been wrong,’’ Sehwag was to say simply later in the day, having logged his highest score on Indian soil.

Later in the day, under lights brought on to compensate for the slow over rate, Mohammed Kaif and Parthiv Patel survived a few close calls and stood their ground to frustrate the Aussies further. ‘‘A lead of 150,’’ according to Sehwag, is what the Indians are looking at.

The morning session on Saturday presents India with a great chance of building on the advantage. As has been witnessed in the past two days, the conditions tend to get difficult as the day wears on. The older, softer ball tends to keep low and reverse swing becomes a lethal weapon for the fast bowlers. Similarly, the variable bounce and slowness of the pitch turn the spinners into weapons of mass destruction.

Also the Indians’ ploy to go after the spinners is fraught with danger, especially against Warne, who claimed to have bowled his best spell on Indian soil today.

‘‘I created lot of chances and worried the Indian batsmen, who didn’t know whether to play straight or which way it was turning,’’ he would say later.

The Australians, on the other hand, would be looking to terminate the Indian innings at the earliest and then pile a sizeable total to make India battle a fifth day pitch. ‘‘We are going to fight back,’’ Warne threatened.

It appears that we have a classic in our hands again.