Days like this are enough to drive you to drink. As I nursed my brandy last night, watching the match till the wee hours, I felt disgust and anger with only a tinge of sadness. I have too many thoughts to pen but will summarize the day first.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. The pitch can only be described as dead. There was no pace in it and the bounce was average and even. In other words, it was a bowlers graveyard. It is very hard to bowl well on pitches like this one and it showed up the inadequacies of Irfan and Agarkar mercilessly.

As I had said yesterday, the Pakistan batsmen know Irfan well now and were prepared for his off cutters which he used as his stock ball today. Even though he swung it a fair bit they were looking for it and played him with ease, particularly Younis Khan. I have said time and again that Irfan needs to gain a yard or two of pace to be effective on all surfaces. In fact, he has lost pace over the last year. Even when he swung the ball in accurately, the batsmen had plenty of time to adjust their strokes and play late. Overall, he was poor and gave too much width outside off. I am afraid, he will never be a bowler who threatens in unhelpful conditions. He strayed way outside off when trying the away swinger and needs to develop a decent leg cutter. He needs more variation in his bowling.

On these pitches you need speed in the air or strength to hit the deck hard to extract bounce. Irfan and Agarkar have neither. A couple of bowlers at my club bowl faster. I think we missed Zaheer. Agarkar should not play on these pitches. He was pathetic. He is not a world class bowler and  would not be in my team. Both Pathan and Ajit should atleast try not to pitch it short or attempt bouncers. At their friendly speeds it has hit me written all over it.

Harbhajan was the pick amongst the bowlers and got a lot of turn but the slowness of the pitch gave the batsmen plenty of time to go back and play late. Unfortunately, his bowling looked predictable and lacked an element of surprise.

Kumble had a very bad day at the office. He drifted down the leg side repeatedly. Kumble without control is like soda without fizz - useless. Rarely seen him bowl so poorly. 

The only bright spot - Yuvraj's run out of Salman Butt -  fantastic throw from a sharp angle while off balance. I should have gone to sleep after that.

Younis Khan continues his dream run against India. He remained unbeaten on 147 with Mohd. Yusuf (95) with the scoreboard reading 326/2 off only 85 overs. I fear the Indians have to play fetch it for another day.

The decision to include Saurav in the side is assinine and tells me nothing has changed. His inclusion defies logic. I think  he will fight the decision to ask him to open. It will lead to rancour and unease in the side. It is unfair to the team and  unfair to Saurav. But then, his inclusion was wrong in the first place. So, everyone loses. This whole saga disgusts me beyond words. I have a feeling we may see Rahul walk out with Sehwag.

So, what next. If I were Inzamam I would declare after 550 - 600 in the last session of play on day 2 and unleash Shoaib and Co. on the Indian batsmen in a tricky 30 - 60 minutes of play. I am almost desperate to see some real bowlers for a change!