Sourav146;s sweet sixteenth

Dhoni in the zone

Ganguly was on 55 when play started on Saturday, with the spotlight firmly on him. Through the course of a day that India dominated from start to finish, at least two other players tried to squeeze into his story. Dhoni walked in and took charge of proceedings, and for the next couple of hours Ganguly slipped seamlessly into the background.

First ball from Brett Lee, short and fast, was pulled away to deep square-leg for four. Next over, Peter Siddle sent one towards the rib cage; this time, he got more meat into the shot, and even before he finished swiveling, the ball had cleared the boundary rope. The captain meant business. He charged down the track to Shane Watson and condescendingly slapped Cameron White around. He was the last man out for a breezy 92, to a horrendous leg-before decision from Rudi Koertzen, who had given Ganguly a reprieve on Friday when he didn8217;t call for the third umpire on a stumping appeal. All in all, he8217;s making a fair case in favour of the referral system.

Mishra turns up

Later in the evening, after Zaheer Khan had dismissed Matthew Hayden for the third time in as many innings and Ishant got Ponting for the fourth time in five Tests, Amit Mishra started work on what could turn out to be one of those dream debuts.

In his third over, he got one to turn just enough to squeeze in between Simon Katich8217;s bat and pad. And in the final over of the day, bowling round the wicket, he had Michael Clarke in four or five minds with a well-flighted googly that caught the clueless Aussie bang in front.

Both might have been stars on another day, on Saturday they would8217;ve been mighty pleased with honourable mentions.

Steady knock

There were no obvious heroics in Ganguly8217;s batting on Saturday. There were singles on offer and he picked them up without too much fuss. He did get bogged down occasionally, but never lost his cool.

His best shot was the one that took him from 96 to 100 8212; White tossed one up on leg-stump, marginally over-pitched, and he gently nudged it off his pads. Even as he turned for his second, the ball hopped over the ropes at square-leg. The celebration wasn8217;t elaborate he didn8217;t even take off his helmet: a pump of the fists and, predictably, a smile wider than an eight-lane highway.

When Ganguly was dropped from the team in 2006, he had played 88 Tests, scored 5221 runs with 12 hundreds and 25 fifties at an average of 40.78. Since his comeback, he8217;s scored 1842 with four centuries and nine 50s at 47.23.

Those runs have taken him past Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohammad Azharuddin and Dilip Vengsarkar. In India, only Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar have scored more. Another 48 will take him past old friend and foe Greg Chappell, and you can bet he8217;ll have a silent chuckle when he crosses that bridge. In the three innings since he announced his retirement, he8217;s scored 173 runs at 86.50.

Really, who8217;s writing the script?

Just over two years ago, during his forced exile from Indian cricket, he sat in an empty stand, smiled into a camera and uttered an innocently mischievous bhoole toh nahin? for a television commercial. Right now, he8217;s just making sure he8217;ll be remembered for a while to come, cheeky grin and all.