First the captain takes a risk by electing to bowl. Then the bowlers bowl badly on day one and when they bowl their hearts out over the next three days, the fielders drop more chances than I have ever seen in a test match before. My club side has never dropped as many in one game! The batsmen then bat poorly and the team now faces almost certain defeat. If you are looking for sympathy or a kind word, go someplace else. The team has brought this upon themselves and will be deserving losers if they do, indeed, end up losing.

This is the state of the match : England : 400 and 191.

                                                            India    : 279 and 18/1.

India have missed 11 chances on the field this match and I estimate this has cost more than 170 runs. Dhoni, Yuvraj, Dravid, Pathan, Sehwag, Kumble have all been culprits. The drops are too many and too distressing to list. Let us just say that it has been a true team performance.

Jaffer and Kumble are at the crease and India need 295 more to win off 90 overs. First, I do not think India will win. People who harbour hopes of a win are hopeless romantics. We will need to safeguard wickets for the first 2 sessions tomorrow and assuming we reach tea only 3-4 wickets down ( very unlikely) the asking rate will have climbed too high to chase safely. Second, if it really comes to that, it is easy to bowl a restrictive line in tests and England will do just that. Third, I do not think this team is good enough to do it in it's current state. Fourth, Sehwag and Sachin are injured.

The only player I trust to make a difference is Rahul Dravid and I hope that he will somehow manage to last 90 overs. If he falls early the team will collapse like a pack of cards. The others, including Sachin, are not equipped to last at the crease in these conditions.

There has been a lot of talk about Dhoni's dismissal. There was sufficient doubt and the decision of the third umpire should have gone in his favour. Amazingly, the person operating the screen in the stadium pressed the red button before the third umpire!! Only in India is this possible. I can only speculate as to whether this pressurized Mr. Hariharan to press the red button too - I think it did because Dhoni was well on his way back already when the umpire pressed his button. The person who pressed the red button without authorization should not be ever allowed within 5 miles of a cricket stadium in this life.

The BCCI has discovered new ways of making money. I hope it discovers professionalism too, at some point. The MCA has a lot of explaining to do over its very shabby management at Wankhede.  One visit to the toilets at Wankhede and you will find it hard to believe that this is one of the premier stadia of the richest cricket board in the world. Where is all the money going?

A word about the booing of Sachin at Wankhede. It was wrong and graceless. Sachin has been my favourite batsmen and I have been accused of being partial to him in the past. Having said that, I have to say that the reaction of many ex-cricketers has been almost hysterical and oh, so goody-goody!

This is a man's game of grime and dust, not a tea party with the Queen, boys. Just as players say things on the field they later regret, the crowd got carried away too. Cricketers are sportsmen, but they are entertainers too. There isn't a single entertainer alive who has never been booed by an unhappy audience! The same fans have showered Sachin with unprecedented adulation and reward over 16 years. Sachin has great strength of character and will have taken the booing in his stride. I am sure he did not make half as much of the incident as all the critics have. Come on guys, Sachin got booed, too bad, but do not make a song and dance about it. He is a famous cricketer, not a holy cow!

Prediction for tomorrow - India will lose. I just hope they make a fight of it. The romantic in me, however, hopes to get a shock tomorrow.