Ganguly makes some interesting moves -- like who would have thought Ashish Nehra, given his recent record, would get the ball ahead of the quicker Ajit Agarkar on a fast track?
To give Ganguly -- and his bowler -- their due, Nehra has thus far responded well. Both he and Zaheer quickly homed in on the right length to bowl, keeping it full and on the stumps or just outside off.
It's been a far more impressive opening spell from India than any in the recent past. And the field placing, thus far, has been aggressive, and spot on.
The Kiwi openers appeared to have figured out that survival is the key -- the total they are chasing is hardly daunting, stay there long enough and those runs will come, plus many more as the pitch eases off. It is here that India lost it -- in its collective inability to even play out the 80 overs of the first new ball.
The real key to the Test now lies in whether India can take at least a couple of the Kiwi batsmen out before close -- do that, and they have an opportunity to come in fresh in the morning and turn on pressure on a still fresh track. Fail, and not only will valuable runs be whittled off the total this evening, but the Indians will be behind the eight ball when play resumes tomorrow, with strokemakers of the order of Fleming and McMillan to follow