First Day,First coat

The third ball of Ishants seventh over had hit a spot some six or eight inches short of a good length and reared like an uppercut into the grille of Phil Hughess helmet. Front-on TV replays made the balls ascent look almost vertical; from side-on,they showed Hughes leaping three feet in the air as he doubled backwards in an attempt to sway out of line.

Hughes was on 45. He had scored his runs freely,swatting Ishant and Bhuvneshwar in the region between third man and deep cover whenever they gave him width and stepping down the track confidently to shovel R Ashwin into the leg side.

Against the quicks,Hughes had shown a little more inclination than usual to get behind the line of the ball. Usually,he stays next to the line and aims off-side slashes even at deliveries headed to the stumps. This time,all his off side fours had come off balls offering genuine width.

The Hughes error

But the snorter seemed to have planted some doubt in Hughess mind. The last ball of Ishants over was a touch fuller,pitched on a line hugging off stump. Hughess back foot remained on leg stump. Instead of meeting the ball in front of his body with a straight bat,the left-hander chopped at it with an angled blade,and inside-edged onto his stumps.

On pitches like this patchwork strip at the Ferozeshah Kotla,the possibility of a misbehaving delivery is often a more potent weapon than a ball that actually bounces or turns alarmingly. Different batsmen combat this threat in different ways. None of these approaches guarantee success. In the post-lunch session,none of them worked.

When Ed Cowan prepared to face the final ball of the fifth over after lunch,he was on 38 from 98 balls,of which 82 had been dots. With this sort of approach,batsmen know in the back of their minds that one good ball or bad shot can undo hours of hard graft.

Ashwin changed angle,electing to go over the wicket to the left-hander,and pitched one full,on leg stump. Cowan aimed a sweep at it,missed,and smacked himself on the back with his bat as he walked off the ground. He had been dismissed in exactly the same manner in Hyderabad. He had,in all likelihood,told himself not to sweep a ball that full. But sometimes,your instincts can be your worst enemy.

Shane Watson,unlike the man whom he was filling in for as captain,doesnt possess the instinct to dance down the pitch to the spinners. He had already survived one stumping chance,off Ojha. Now,with heavy-footed stride,he forayed out of his crease to Ravindra Jadeja. This ball from the left-arm spinner was dangled a touch slower than usual,and dropped shorter than Watson expected. Looking to work the ball against the turn,Watson missed completely.

Matthew Wade was next to go,caught bat-pad 8211; or so reckoned umpire Aleem Dar,even if replays seemed to suggest that the ball from Ashwin went straight off his front pad to silly point.

Glenn Maxwell,reinstated into the side as a spin-bowling all-rounder to permit the inclusion of a third seamer,got off the mark by launching Ojha down the ground for six. The next ball,shorter in length,screamed away behind point for four.

How successful would this sort of approach be against Jadeja? On this day,not very 8211; running down the track but failing to get anywhere near the pitch of the ball,Maxwells slog landed safely in mid ons hands. Six for 129 became seven for 136 when Mitchell Johnson shouldered arms to a carrom ball from Ashwin. Angled across the left-hander,it pitched on off,straightened,and hit the top of off. For a few seconds,Johnson refused to leave,imagining that the Indians were making a stumping appeal.

With just 54 overs bowled,the Indians must have imagined they would have nearly a full sessions batting to contend with. Instead,Steve Smith,Peter Siddle and James Pattinson knuckled down for two partnerships that took the score to 231 for eight at stumps. Not for the first time in the series,the pitch began to look far less threatening after a pair of batsmen had survived its opening round of interrogation.

Live on Star Cricket,9:30 am