Can India bounce back...?

This one reminded me of the historic match between India and Aus in 2000-01, where India after following on went on to win the match, courtesy Laxman and Dravid. They batted for the full 4th day and took India from 200 behind to 300 ahead and then left the rest to the bowlers, when Bhajji rose to the occassion and won the match for India.

Everything is almost the same in this one, right from India losing 12 wickets in a day to batting after being followed on. If Sachin can stick tomorrow for the whole day with someone who can rotate the strike, I think we will be in a good position by the end of the day tomorrow. Lets hope for the best.

If we look at the numbers in this game, we have got all the number ones here. Dale Steyn, the number one test bowler was bowling to the number one batsman, Gauti with the number one all-rounder, Kallis standing in the slip-cordon waiting to catch the ball. But it was disappointing to see the no. 1 batsman struggling here. Both the other no. ones performed according to their ranks with Kallis scoring a ton in the first innings and Steyn taking 7 wickets to restrict India to 233, when they were just 4 down for 221. To add to this, from the Indian side, only Sehwag played responsibly in absence of Dravid and Laxman as was expected from him before the match. But, in the second innings, he lost his temper and played a bad shot off the outside off stump delivery, giving an easy one to skipper Smith.

Now i just hope that history repeats itself and India go on to win this one. A draw will also do... ;-)