England finally come to the party

India has for long now been looking for a wicket-keeper who can bat.

Deep Dasgupta can bat with the best of them.

Is it time for India to now start looking for a wicket-keeper who can keep? Because both in South Africa and in this series thus far, it has been very evident that wicket-keeping is not Dasgupta's forte.

This is not to run down, or write off, an emerging young player. But on the basis of four and a half Tests thus far, wicket-keeping is rapidly emerging into a serious problem -- the seriousness being magnified by the fact that India in any case struggles to take wickets, and a shaky keeper lowers the confidence levels of bowlers appreciably.

This morning, Dasgupta let off Craig White, twice. And the all-rounder, who has been tipped by his captain as a likely lad with the bat, cashed in with his first century in Test cricket, improving on the 93 he had made against Pakistan in Lahore a year ago.

India began the morning with spin, despite the presence of some overnight due on the track. Harbhajan Singh was duly carted over wide long on by White, but immediately thereafter, he produced a beauty -- a 'doosra' with flight and turn, bringing White, then batting 48, forward, beating him and finding the edge only for Dasgupta to make a mess of a simple take.

The new ball was duly taken and Srinath, in particular, again produced a very sharp spell, characterised by the away-swinger he has of late mastered. One such delivery hit a perfect length, kicked, seamed away, found the thick edge of White's bat -- and Dasgupta put down his second sitter of the morning, this one coming at him at a very straightforward shoulder height. Later in the same over, a quick bouncer drew White into the hook and out at long leg, it was Kumble who stood immobile for too long, searching for the ball and finally being too late to grab. England, at that point, were 324/6 -- and for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, the Indians sweltered in the field as White made them pay for their carelessness.

With Foster playing an innings of concentration and White batting fluently against pace and spin alike, the pair set a new 7^th wicket record for England against India, the century stand coming off 232 balls as England moved to 342/6.

Shortly thereafter, however, Kumble had Foster driving at a ball not full enough for the shot. Tendulkar at mid on lunged into a dive and pulled off a superb catch to end the keeper-batsman's resistance, Foster going for a well compiled 40 (119 balls) in the 114th over, England 344/7 at that point.

Two runs later, Ashley Giles misread a Kumble googly, got the edge, and Dasgupta again was in no position to hold.

England went in to lunch on 356/7, having added 78 to the overnight score off 29 overs in the morning session for the loss of Foster. White, making the most of the chances gifted to him, went in on 88 off 201 deliveries.

The session began with Giles misreading yet another wrong 'un from Kumble and getting bowled through the gate. Dawson, the number ten, however hung in there, gritting it out against the steady diet of flippers and wrong 'uns and using up space while White worked his way towards a maiden Test century. Trivia alert: The last time an England number seven scored a century was 63 Tests ago, way back in 1996 when Jack Russell the wicket-keeper batsman did the deed -- also against India!

Javagal Srinath, who has rarely bowled this hard, and this well, for so little visible reward, finally took Dawson out with a ball seaming late off a length -- the batsman's push found the edge and Dasgupta redeemed himself somewhat with a headlong dive that saw him snaffle the catch in front of first slip (England 391/9, the 9^th wicket partnership adding 31 runs.

A few deliveries, and runs, later, Umpire Robinson weighed in with his day's quota as Hoggard took a Kumble top-spinner on the pad in line with middle stump, with the umpire figuring there was doubt to give the batsman the benefit of.

The very next over saw White take a swing at a short-pitched one from Srinath going down the leg side. This time, it was umpire A V Jayaprakash who got it wrong, failing to spot the deviation as the ball brushed glove on the way through.

England brought up the 400 off 861 balls -- a tremendous recovery after being 180/5 at one point.

Harbhajan Singh was brought back. White skipped down the track a couple of paces, went low to get under the ball, and launched him over wide long on for a six. Two deliveries later, White was into his waltz again but this time, the offie bowled it a bit wide and curled it in, the shot went all over it and the ball went on to hit middle stump. White's dogged innings, which guided the second half of the English innings and pushed the team to a position of strength, finally ended (121/265), and England in the 145th over, were bowled out for 407.

Two innings -- by Trescothick and White -- had turned it around for the tourists. Both benefitted from luck -- but on the credit side, both proved quick learners, handling spin with composure and confidene and showing a willingness to stay out there and let the runs come. England, thus, found itself for once in a position to dictate terms -- the onus falling on India to first rack up 400, then post a sizeable enough lead to give themselves a chance of bowling England out in the third innings.

England used pace and spin. India's openers, Dasgupta and Das, used patience and application -- with Dasgupta, strange though it is to say this, being the more correct of the two openers.

Das seemed in somewhat of a hurry, missing with a few attempted shots and when Dawson was introduced, pushing one on length straight to Mark Ramprakash at silly point, only for the fielder to spill a straightforward chance.

The England bowlers seemed to have run out of both steam and ideas when Ashley Giles went round the wicket, looking for some rough to bowl into. Dasgupta, correctness personified throughout his innings, fell into the trap, lunging into a sweep to a ball just that bit outside leg stump for comfort, and managing only to bob it up for Nasser Hussain, standing at short fine leg for precisely that shot, to hold with ease, ending an innings of 17/67 by the keeper-opener (India 54/1).

Das's innings had, all along, had more than an element of luck. The normally circumspect opener seemed unusually to have a touch of the fidgets about his batting. Andrew Flintoff -- who, both at Mohali and here has proved pacier than the regular seamers -- got the wicket with a ball just back of length, to which Das pushed without getting his foot across for the edge to be safely held at second slip (Das 41 off 95 balls, India 64/2 in the 29^th over.

Ashley Giles' insistence on staying round the wicket produced some interesting cricket. Tendulkar, in at number four, stood there letting delivery after delivery hit his pads. Giles appealed, in vain -- though most of the deliveries would have hit the stumps, every one of them landed outside leg stump. Giles finally went back to over the wicket -- and Tendulkar promptly laid back and cut him to get off the mark.

India walked in, at close, on 71/2 in 36 overs, with Tendulkar on two and Dravid 5, to show for the 54 deliveries the two had faced between them. The last 8 overs of play had produced 7 runs, inclusive of four byes when Giles fired one down leg side.

England's strategy is already very clear, and will set tomorrow's pattern -- dry up the runs with a 7-2 field with an off side bias and get the seamers bowling on that side of the wicket. The job for the Indians, still 336 behind, thus becomes equally clear -- either take on the line and score runs against it, if you have the nous (Sachin, Laxman, Sehwag) or hold the line, and force the bowlers to face the very real possibility that unless they actually get onto line of the stumps, they could end up bowling for the best part of the next three days.

In other words, day three could be more about patience and nerves, than about great bowling and good batting.

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