VVS Laxman’s 9^th. test century has set us up for a likely victory in this test. Resuming at 247/6 India added 151 priceless runs before finishing at 398 all out. This is remarkable considering that India were 97/5. Sri Lanka had India at their mercy but could not deliver the knock out punch. As in the last test, Sri Lanka had their chance but failed to take it. In contrast, whenever India has been in trouble, one player or another has raised his hand and taken the team to a position of strength. VVS scored 104 runs in an innings of patience, interspersed with flashes of brilliant strokeplay. The circumstances in which runs are scored signify the true worth of an innings. By that yardstick, this was one worth it’s weight in gold. A century scored and much bragged about by a certain Indian player in Bulawayo recently, readily comes to mind as contrast (Archives – Shenanigans in Bulawayo).

Irfan batted with great confidence but missed a century again, falling for a very attractive 82. His batting seems to get better with every game. Kumble (21), Agarkar (26) and Bhajji (8 not out), all chipped in. When teams show such resilience, it weakens the opponent’s self belief and instills a sense of futility in their effort. Even though Sri Lanka fought hard throughout the day, they knew that the game was slowly slipping out of their hands, which would have done their morale no good.

Sri Lanka lost Tharanga for 2 (14/1) to one from Pathan that swung late and ended up in Dhoni’s gloves via the bat. Atapattu was batting positively with Sangakkara and things were looking up for Sri Lanka for a while. As if on cue, Harbhajan got into the act, dismissing Atapattu, Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Samaraweera in quick succession. From 74 for 1 Sri Lanka had slid to 105/5. In 5 overs Harbhajan ripped the heart out of the Sri Lankan batting. Sri Lanka finished the day at 131/5.

Harbhajan extracted turn and bounce, which seemed to surprise the batsmen. I had said yesterday that Sri Lanka would struggle to save the match if India got to about 350. Well, it seems to be going pretty much by the script and they will have done well if they manage to salvage a draw. I somehow feel that they have had the stuffing knocked out of them, particularly with no chance of a win in sight.

A little belatedly, Sri Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, announced today that Parliament will not be discussing Saurav Ganguly’s exclusion from the Indian cricket team after all. We are immensely grateful for small mercies.

As predicted yesterday, the Australian cricket team has begun to assert itself and once they gain momentum, there will be only one winner. That is the one sure thing you can still get in this game of glorious uncertainties.