There is very little margin for error on pitches like this one. The Indian cricket team is going to win simply because they were able to lift their game a notch at crucial stages of this series. This ability always defines a champion team or player and separates them from the merely good . While the opponent is playing the best he/she possibly can, the champion has an extra 20% in the tank that is pulled out when required. Think Pete Sampras, think Roger Federer during a tiebreaker. While the Indians have had several players excel at various stages, the Sri Lankan cricket team is far too dependant on Murali. As they will have realized in Delhi, even with Murali at his best, their batsmen need to do their job if they are to have any chance of winning. Unfortunately, their batting has been pretty ordinary.

As if to prove the point, starting at 131/5, Sri Lanka were all out for 206. Harbhajan ended with 7 wickets and Kumble got 2. India were 97/5 in the first innings but managed to score 398.

As in the first innings, India were reduced to 100 for 5, but recovered to end the day at 287 for 9 for a whopping lead of 479. Kumble with 23 and Harbhajan with 19 are still at the crease. Sehwag was out first ball flashing at a wide one(0/1). VVS departed to a beauty for 5(9/2). Sachin was looking good but departed for 19 to a howler from Nadeem Ghauri, given leg before to one that was well above the stumps(34/3). This brought Yuvraj to the crease and he showed, that in selecting him over Saurav, the selectors have just done the obvious. The people doing all the shouting over this are too blinded by their own agenda to see that.

Most heartening for me, he played the spinners with ease. His footwork was good and his outlook very positive. His 75 took only 83 balls, on a difficult pitch, with 13 fours and one six. He has been much more consistent and his play against spin has improved greatly since Greg’s arrival. Against a career average of 32.1 his last 15 ODI’s have seen him score at 54.8 a pop. His batting in tests is picking up and will only get better.

I have never been a fan of Agarkar but he seems to have found his groove. He has discovered the one quality that had eluded him till now - consistency. He scored an excellent 43 ball 48. His bowling and batting have been consistently good throughout this series.

The first four batsmen got 54 while the last four have already scored twice that with more to come. I am getting a little worried about our opening pair. There is just one practice match in Pakistan between this game and the first test at Lahore on January 14.