Weather report: Dravid’s cool, Viru’s hot

The duo ducked deliveries that moved at raw pace but played those extraordinary drives when Pakistan bowlers pitched it up. Akhtar and captain Inzamam-ul Haq realised that what worked against England recently, wouldn’t necessarily work again. The Indians had decided to take it easy, wait for the right ball and leave the rest.

Inzamam opted for Danish Kaneria just before the play was called off because of bad light. At the end of the day, Sehwag had scored a typical 96 runs, coming off 89 balls with 20 fours, just short of what would be his first century in eight Tests; not to talk about his long dry patch in the one-dayers.

‘‘Pity that the day’s play had to be called off,’’ commented team manager Raj Singh Dungarpur. He was one of those many Indians at the Gaddafi who felt that, like Multan, there was another ‘‘special innings’’ in the making.

Dravid, meanwhile, remained at his defensive best, providing India the perfect platform from where they can look forward to saving the match. Yet it cannot be forgotten that India had still taken the risk of playing Dravid as an opener, which Chappell has called a ‘‘bold decision.’’ Whether the trend will continue or not is not known yet, but the coach is convinced ‘‘it isn’t a bad idea’’ after all.

But the figures speak for themselves. Dravid has opened in nine Test matches for India so far, scored 150 runs, his highest being 31 with an average of 18.75 – not neat figures at all. For the record, India were 145 for no loss with Sehwag on 96, close to his 11th Test century and Dravid on 37-with 28 overs gone and two days of play left.