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From strength to strength

It has been the perfect pitch on which to hold on to a 1-0 lead. At the end of the third day, the odds against New Zealand avoiding a follow-on assumed Everest-like proportions once Fleming left his feet anchored and succumbed yet again to the impressive Srinath. Having reduced their opponents to 211 for 6, the Indians must feel they have conquered their enemy with growing consistency. All their departments have improved as the series has unfolded while the Black Caps have simply run out of feathers. Despite the dour resistance offered by Nathan Astle, the Kiwis will need to harden up once more over the last two days of this Test if they are to even contemplate taking a strong resolve into the one-dayers next week.

The toss was always going to be more crucial than ever in this third Test at Ahmedabad, and the captains knew it as they showed by their body language. That is why it was surprising that Gandhi and Dravid did not capitalise on super conditions for batting, with a slow true pitch and a very fast outfield. Dravid looked as superior as ever until a beauty that bounced from Vettori had him caught at the second attempt by Parore. He had stroked six boundaries in that effortless way of his.

Effortless too was the highly successful opener Ramesh, whose fine century was studded with stunning strokes especially when driving through the covers from the back foot. He comes in for criticism for his circular backlift, but like all the top subcontinent players his keen eye and lateness of stroke makes up for technical faults. His true test will no doubt be the 'away' series in Australia. The extra pace will find him out and unless he plays back with a straighter bat he may find the transition difficult. His great Test record has been carved out on the flat slow pitches; the real test comes on the hard and faster surfaces down under.

Ganguly is another class act who plays his strokes with such authority he could easily be the superstar in the Indian galaxy. It was a century of great charm, control and shot selection and it was fitting he assisted Tendulkar in that massive partnership, for the star was unquestionably Sachin. He treated his slavering subjects to the full array of imperial strokes, the cover drive, the off-drive, the square cut and the splendidly balanced on-drive. To these he added a pot pourri of original ideas: the fine-leg drive, the back cut, the premeditated paddle and a rare breed of pull shot that was ultimately his undoing. It was deified batsmanship but it was not quite immortal. The reason for this lay in his fallibility, caused by the pressure placed on him by his dominion and by himself. He became quite the petulant petal on the second morning; first when he blamed Nash for standing in his way and then Ganguly for not giving him the strike. On each occasion the god was not best pleased.

He need not be unhappy at any point for he rode enough fortune to be very pleased with his own gods, and duly showed it upon reaching both century marks. Twice, in the 90's, he gave the Kiwi's every chance to expose Jadeja to the new ball. Alas, Sachin was destined sooner rather than later to correct the missing part of his record by finally going past 179 in his 21st attempt past the hundred mark. Dion Nash finally ended the masterful innings with a stunning catch and the possibility of breaking Gavaskar's 236* as India's highest ever. Surprising isn't it, that no Indian features in the highest 50 Test innings recorded when you see pitches like this for batting on?

(Gameplan)

Martin Crowe