Mexican standoff at Harare

At the end of day three at the Queen's Sports Club in Harare, the scene was a bit like one of those old Western movies: both gunfighters with cocked and loaded pistols pointing at each other, waiting for the first blink.

India started off right, taking out the last two wickets with a minimum of fuss and for the addition of just 13 runs to the overnight total. Harbhajan Singh got Murphy bowled through the gate, and Srinath finally got a wicket to his name when he made Grant Flower push at one around off for Laxman to hold low and well at first slip.

The damage though had been done, by virtue of the home side stretching its lead to 78. Which meant that India, needing at least 300 runs to ensure that Zimbabwe didn't make an end run and level the series, had a sizeable deficit to wipe off first.

An indication of the Indian mindset going into the second innings lay in Dighe's promotion to open the batting. The team management obviously figured that it was preferable to risk an early exit for Dighe, if that meant they could use Hemang Badani where he is most at home, in the middle order.

Dighe obliged. He is gutsy, and does play for the team, but he has this tendency to push away from his body outside the off stump. Blignaut merely had to put it in the right place, for the promoted opener to push the edge through to the keeper.

V V S Laxman came to the crease, apparently determined to hang in there -- but temperamentally he is not much of a hanger-in. The number three parodied patience for an over or three, then his natural instincts took over and he took to Blignaut, blasting him for four fours in an over.

Immediately thereafter, Travis Friend made one climb outside off, Laxman went into the cut, didn't keep it down all that well and was held -- or so goes the scorecard -- at point. Judged by the replay, you'd have to think Laxman was a touch unlucky on that one, the ball seemingly bouncing just before the fielder's fingertips closed around it.

Sachin Tendulkar and Shiv Sunder Das then did a Grant Flower on the Zimbabweans, watching deliveries go past their off stump with studied patience, checking their shots and carefully guiding the ball around, and only occasionally really flowing into stroke play. One statistic tells the story, really -- there were no fours scored for a period of 23 overs during the post-lunch session, which given the vast amount of empty space on the on side, and Tendulkar's presence in the middle, was noteworthy.

Both batsmen stuck to their job, however, of quiet accumulation. Tendulkar got to his 28th Test fifty and Das to his third successive one on this tour. The diminutive opener is proving to be quite a revelation -- impeccable temperament, dogged patience, perfect judgement around his off stump and, importantly for an opener, very, very good off the back foot. His biggest quality, though, is that he just will not throw his wicket away -- and India, with its array of stroke players, could use a batsman of that kind.

Their 118-run third-wicket association ended against the run of play. Or more accurately, Tendulkar got out as he so often does when he gets into a doggedly defensive mode. Heath Streak, coming on for a fresh spell, began with a half-volley wide of off -- the kind of delivery Tendulkar would have blasted through coverpoint at any other time. This time round, though, he checked his drive, played it half-heartedly, and ended up putting it down point's throat off the toe of his bat.

At that point, India were 72 ahead. Rahul Dravid came out ahead of the woefully out-of-form Indian captain and, with Das not missing a beat over the departure of his partner, settled down to quiet accumulation.

Streak produced a bit of a masterstroke when, in the final over of the day, he opted for the second new ball. Dravid started off with an off-driven four. But ball four saw Blignaut produce one right in the corridor around off, Dravid in defensive mode in the final over pushed at it, got the edge through, and India found itself losing a wicket when it could least afford to.

At close, India were 197/4, ahead on the second innings by 119. Das's vigil, now five-plus hours and counting, fetched him 68 not out.

At this point in time, the game remains perfectly poised. If India can go ahead by 275-300 runs, the increased turn of the fourth and fifth day should suit Harbhajan Singh down to the ground. On the other hand, if Zimbabwe take an early wicket on Monday morning when they have the advantage of the second new ball on a sweating pitch, a seemingly won series could go horribly wrong for the tourists.

And that puts the onus squarely on out-of-form Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly and the debutant Badani to back up Das.

One interesting point that could well have a bearing on the match relates to Harbhajan Singh. On this tour, the ball in use is the Kookaburra, which, unlike the Duke's, does not have a prominent seam. In fact, the seam tends to merge with the leather as the ball gets older, and for an offspinner on a turning track, that is a huge problem. It's going to be interesting to see how the young offie copes.

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