Azhar on fire, and India on velvet

Prem Panicker

After the madness of day two, when 15 wickets tumbled for just over 200 runs, sanity returned to the proceedings at the Green Park, Kanpur.

Sanity, in the form of 263 runs scored over 90 overs, with as many as 37 boundaries, for the loss of just four wickets.

Inexplicable?

Not really. As we pointed out yesterday, the devil was more in the minds of the batsmen, than in the wicket. Today, the Indian batsmen came out, played the bowling on merit, batted with purpose and to a plan - and suddenly, the runs flowed.

So much for all that talk of doctored wickets. The plain, simple fact is this - as at Ahmedabad, so at Kanpur, the wicket aids spin, it helps fast bowlers, but it also helps the batsman who knows his craft, has the technical expertise to assess the conditions and the ability to adapt his batting accordingly.

In the event, India ended the day on 270 for the loss of five wickets. At the crease were Mohammad Azharuddin, unbeaten on a scintillant 88 made off just 144 deliveries, and Rahul Dravid, batting with his usual calm assurance to score 33 off 75 balls.

As it stands, the Indian lead is now 330 - already, a total that looks to be a match winning one, especially given that the South Africans, always uncomfortable dealing with the turning ball, will be batting last against the spin of Kumble, Joshi and Kapoor.

In the morning, overnight not outs Anil Kumble and Nayan Mongia came out with the obvious intention of ensuring that no quick wickets fell, and the scoreboard kept ticking over.

And they succeeded remarkably well - Kumble, by virtue of the fact that of late, he has begun batting like a proper top order batsman, with body and bat behind the line of every delivery; Mongia, because he was astute enough to play to his strength on the leg side and leave deliveries outside off well alone.

The first hour of play produced 34 runs off 15 overs. More to the point, no wicket fell, and this turned the pressure round and put it square on the South African side.

Mongia departed shortly after the first drinks break, playing all over a straighter one from Lance Klusener and getting adjudged leg before - but by then, he had warded off the threat of early wickets, and more than done what was expected of him. Interestingly, neither Fanie De Villers, nor Lance Klusener, really tried changing their line of attack to Ganguly - both kept bowling over the wicket, slanting the ball across the left hander and allowing him the width to drive when the sensible ploy would have been to go round the wicket, angle the ball in to the left-hander's body on middle stump, and cramp him for room. In the event, Ganguly added fifty runs with Kumble before the latter drove at one outside off stump that seamed away just that fraction to make the ball go in the air, and Gibbs - easily in the Rhodes class as a fielder - took a superbly judged catch at point. The Indian vice captain has, of late, been working on his batting, and on the day, the effort showed - not only was he in line to everything, but his driving off the front foot, especially through cover, was right out of the top drawer.

Sachin Tendulkar's innings, on the day, was a bit of a mixed back. Defensive to start with, but this time round, using his knack of guiding the ball into the gaps to ensure that unlike in the first innings, the scoreboard was never static; and flowering into aggression in one calculated phase just before tea, when in tandem with Mohammad Azharuddin, he went after the spinners with the obvious intention of spoiling their length and line and forcing Cronje to rethink his options. That second phase showed good thinking, even if Sachin's timing seemed, for the most part, way off his best.

And as so often recently, he perished to the pre-calculated stroke. Having decided that he was going to take a single off every ball, he moved inside the line of one from Klusener, looking to push through cover - the ball seamed away, took the edge and for the first time in this match, a catch went to the keeper.

Dravid, having batted at almost every other position in the lineup, came in this time at number seven - and this, the most technically correct player in the side. What this kind of chopping and changing of his position does to the psyche of a young man still in his first year in international cricket can only be imagined - in the event, though, Dravid showed little sign of it here as, batting with his usual competence and air of absolute assurance, he kept the strike rotating, letting Azharuddin have the bulk of it, chipping in with his own handsome shots when length and line permitted.

I left Azharuddin's innings for the end - because after Azhar, there really is nothing to say. Calcutta saw one phase of the man: murderous, ruthless, destructive. Today, we witnessed another side to him: thoughtful, in the way he took his time to figure out what the wicket and bowling were doing and then launched his assault; total teamplay, in the way he did precisely what India needed, at precisely the right time, via his calculated attack on Adams, the man who had taken six wickets in the first innings; and totally brilliant, in the quality of his shot-making.

If the Azhar of Calcutta used a bludgeon, today he wielded the rapier - first slicing Klusener's pretensions with three glorious fours in one over that must have made the young fast bowler remember Calcutta; then hitting Adams right out of the attack without ever showing any sign of this being a difficult wicket to bat on.

Noticeable here, as at Calcutta, was the fact that after his change in stance - now a middle stump guard, and more open-chested stance - he has been hitting blazing drives through the off with a regularity he never had before. Coupled with his silken timing on the leg, this now brings Azhar close to being perhaps the most difficult batsman in the world today to contain - and what a good thing that is for the spectators.

India, then, go in with a lead of 330 runs, and two days play remaining.

So what of tomorrow? The trick is to put enough runs on the board to shut SA right out, but not take enough time to let the touring side stonewall for a draw.

And in reading, that delicate balancing act will be pulled off if India can, on resumption of play, another 100, 120 runs at a quick pace, and put South Africa in to bat say an hour before tea. If the five remaining batsmen - and don't forget that two of the best in the Indian side are at the wicket now - can pull that off, put your money on the home team to win, for there is no way this South African batting lineup can face three spinners on this wicket with 400 and more to get and five fielders round the bat.

And what if India collapses in the morning, losing the last five wickets for say twenty runs?

350 to win. Over a day and half of play remaining. On a wicket where, if you know how to get them, the runs are there for the taking. Against three spinners who, in the first innings, had the batsmen in knots. Not forgetting Javagal Srinath, who was unplayable in the first innings.

Now there is a real test of character for the South African side - and an opportunity to prove, once for all, that they do not wilt under pressure.

Can they pull it off?

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