India look all set to win at Delhi.

[photo courtesy: cricinfo.com]
A great day of cricket with India now almost certain to win the first test in Delhi. Its been already been an exhilarating contest. Day 4 started with Pakistan in the driver's seat but great bowling by Zaheer (to be more precise, very disciplined) brought India back into the game, just too quickly. Pakistan batsman on the other hand lacked application and intensity coming in on 4th day. Coach has to tell them that test match is won by playing good cricket session on session and day on day. Pakistan seemed to relax and loose focus after couple of sessions of good cricket.

[photo courtesy: cricinfo.com]

Ganguly surprised everyone in this match but again he is a fighter and loads of experience. I was not too surprised by his contribution. By the time Pakistan finished their innings, the target for India looked comfortable. But previous run chases at kotla suggested that it is going to take huge effort to be able to win the match and more so live up to the expectations from a great batting lineup. Despite a brilliant (after a long time I have seen) performance by Shoaib Akhtar, India is sitting pretty. Ganguly and Jaffar played excellent and positive cricket with Sachin looking comfortable. First match provided a great entertainment which was evident by crowd's presence, just goes to show how the next two matches will be played.

Best of Test cricket...

Cricinfo - A tale of missed chances Annotated

The article discusses an interesting aspect of the test match - Loosing advantage. Day 4 of the test will start with Pakistan in driver's seat. Having a lead of more than 150 and Misbah at the crease, Pakistan needs another 100 runs to put Indians almost out of the game.
If the article holds true for the remaining of the test match, Pakistan would soon loose the advantage and India will be left with 230 odd runs to chase in the last innings. That would be a huge task for India but a perfect platform for Indian batsman to script a memorable victory. Be it Sachin, Saurav or Dhoni, a match winning innings will be the one to remember for a long time. I still think Pakistan has a better bowling attack and they can win the test match if they can put that score on board.

Seeing the match and the wicket's behavior, I think, this wicket is the best to test a batsman's or a bowler's character. The one who has great patience will surely win the battle. I am sure Pakistan will be able to do that in their bowling, I am not sure about India's batting. Pressure and a grave requirement of patience is a danger sign for India. No need to analyze batting order or capabilities of great batting lineup, this is the time to show some charater. I would love to see this test match go down the wire. There is nothing like seeing a re-play of Chennai classic. Come on India!