A run riot. India ended the day at 350+, Ganguly still unbeaten and a jittery Karthik for company. That was yesterday, all about recovery.

Today, they plundered.

Considering that Karthik isn’t exactly the most confident batsman around right now, his twenty-odd runs were valuable, in the sense, they contributed to a fifty-run stand with Ganguly. With Karthik gone, one would think that Kumble was simply waiting for Ganguly to make the double century that was long overdue, and then make the declaration himself. In walked Pathan, who - without causing the slightest of distractions - went on to score big himself. As everyone’s eyes turned to Ganguly, who did cross the two-hundred run mark, Pathan danced down the track, sending many a sphere into the stands.

At 198, Ganguly pushed one into the covers, sprinting the first one. As he tapped the willow on the crease and turned back, it was starting to sink in: maiden double ton for a fighter, who, with this innings, has sealed his case in what could be termed as the finest comeback ever in the history of Indian cricket. Brilliant attitude, and the runs did the talking, prompting a name-change from ‘100rav Ganguly’ to ‘200rav Ganguly’.

Pathan, meanwhile, was on the verge of his century too. With Ganguly departing - as Bangalore stood to acknowledge the finest innings they’ve seen in recent times - and Kumble and Harbhajan doing little to worry the scorers, Pathan stood at the other end at 96. When a nervous Ishant Sharma walked out to face Arafat - who, on debut, had devoured five Indian batsmen, a feat that cannot be appreciated less - Pathan walked with him. ‘Stay put’, he must’ve said. The 6″4 Delhi pacer saw a few ones out, bringing Pathan on strike at the start of the over.

Irfan Pathan might’ve thought he’ll never get another chance ever. Stepping out, crashing the ball over midwicket for six, he raised his bat in acknowledgment, as a few Paki cricketers went up to congratulate him. It was a fine innings, finer that it seemed, because it came quickly and it allowed a certain Bengal Tiger to score his maiden double.

Interestingly, eleven Pakistani cricketers had silently clapped when Sourav Ganguly scored his two-hundredth run. They weren’t even around when Yuvraj Singh made his century, which - with all due respect to the bowling that doesn’t deserve it - was an innings that demolished both, the bowlers figures and their morale. But when Pathan - with four sixers to his name - made his hundredth run, yours truly was a tad surprised to see the Pakistani players all buddy-buddy with the batsman. Hello? Talk about favoritism.

I don’t expect much webspace to be wasted on this incident, and if truth be told, it might not even be worth the ink. But it pains me to see that on a cricketing field. Batsman walks in, scores a ton and raises the bat. Reason enough to appreciate, one would think. Well, whatever.

The tail didn’t wag, it just didn’t, and India wrapped up well in excess of six hundred, three lefties doing the trick. It gave India a shot at the Pakistani batsmen, with a little under thirty overs of play left, Pathan and Sharma were expected to be in business. While a few tough chances went down, and Sharma struggled to find his feet - literally - before bowling a few beauties at Hameed, Kumble brought himself on from one end, and Ganguly from the other.

Well, the first Kumble over was bludgeoned apart by Butt. Crashing him on the leg side for boundaries, respect for the local lad be damned. But Anil Kumble is the kind of man who brings more than sheer bowling to the wicket. With the leggie comes unmatched intensity, patience and perseverance. Hameed eventually fell, as India had drawn first blood, before Younis Khan walked in, sending a message to the team. No night watchman, folks, I’m here and I want to bat.

While the scoreboard remained stuck on 59/1 for thirty deliveries, and as the scores took a nap or two, the intensity in the match and amongst the Indians was diminishing as quickly as the fading light. Not just the Indians on the field, but the ones off it too. We stifled yawns as the curd-rice from lunch was taking effect, before yawning away to glory, and were about to fall asleep ourselves before the umpires put us out of our misery and clipped the bails out.

A boring end to an otherwise interesting day, where Pathan and Ganguly made mockery of an attack that lacked any respectability except for what arrived in the form of Yasir Arafat’s five-for. And Bangalore had seen an international double-ton.

Incidentally, we met Chacha Cricket, who interestingly showed a bit of attitude to click a snap with him. Brotherhood and common-sense prevailed, and yours truly happily formed a frame with Vis, but not before draping the tri-color over the three of us.

Sorry folks, but chacha, yeh hai India ;o)

Here are a few other snaps of this blogger with the pals (Vis, PJ, N Murthy) and the crowd.