Final targets: 210 runs, 10 wickets

Just seven months ago, Damien Martyn had demonstrated his batting skills in similar conditions, when he recorded centuries — 161 and 110 — against Sri Lanka at Galle and Kandy respectively. He used the expertise to craft a tenacious 104 today. And an equally defiant 26 from Jason Gillespie (in a 139-run stand) meant that when the fifth Aussie wicket fell at 284, the Aussies had jammed a toe into the contest.

Gillespie’s stay at the wicket was especially interesting because it was just a continuation of what he has done so successfully for some time now. An average batsman at best, this is the fourth time Gillespie has frustrated the Indian bowlers, playing long, dogged innings when the Indians have looked for a breakthrough or are waiting to wrap up the Aussie tail. He did it in Kolkata (2001), and Adelaide and Sydney in 2003-04. The scores were 46, 48 and 47 each time, over many deliveries.

Martyn did most of the scoring. He waited and played a model backfoot game. His square cuts and cover drives served him well on the off-side, as did the pull on the leg. He brought up his seventh Test century with a straight six off Anil Kumble. ‘‘It’s up there with my best hundreds in the sense that you had two world-class spinners bowling on the fourth day. It’s always satisfying as a batsman to test your skills against the best,’’ he was to say later.

Martyn also warned that there would be no free lunches for the Indians on Monday: ‘‘I think it’s about 200 that they need now, and it’ll be a great day of Test cricket, which is what it’s all about. We’ve had plans when it comes to our bowling and hopefully they’ll come off. We’ve got a great spin bowler in our ranks as well, and they’re going to have to bat very well.’’

The Martyn-Gillespie duo kept the Indians at bay for more than four hours until Harbhajan Singh ended it with a double-strike. Kumble then bought a birthday present for himself by feasting on the lower order to end with a match haul of 13-156.

Kumble, who turned 34 today, later remarked it was tough for the spinners to shoulder the workload to such a large extent. Between them Harbhajan and Kumble bowled nearly 94 of the 133 overs in the second innings.

Meanwhile, the biggest problem for the Indians remains Parthiv Patel. The teenager was, to say the least, terrible behind the stumps. Kumble, however, came out strongly in defence of the youngster. ‘‘It is a tough job, especially on these kinds of wickets. It makes it worse when these decisions are shown on television time and again. He’ll definitely improve.’’ Well, he certainly can’t get worse.