Thrilla in Nagpur

I haven't been able to watch anything but brief highlights on TV, but at work I've been keeping a browser tab on the England-India match at Nagpur. The drama began even before the first ball was even bowled, as Enlgand was reeling from the loss of 2 key bowlers and 2 key batsmen, including the captain and vice-captain, who both went home.

The match itself has been unexpectedly exciting. It seems to swing back and forth regularly. On day one England had a promising start with a debut 50 from the young last-minute replacement Alastair Cook (not to be confused with this guy). Then Sreesanth (another promising debutant) and Pathan cut apart the English batters and things looked grim at the end. But on the morning of day 2 it was England again, with a great rearguard century from substitute Paul Collingwood - with unexpectedly strong support from Monty Panesar - another emergency debutant/replacement, and known as a poor batsman. And as a bonus, Matthew Hoggard took an early wicket against India.

But then things swung back to India with Jaffer and Dravid putting on 129 for the second wicket. It looked like England was in deep trouble.

But then today Hoggard went hog-wild with reverse swing and took some quick wickets. And Panesar had a debutant bowler's dream come true when he got the legendary Sachin Tendulkar as his first test scalp. What a moment for him!

So with India reeling at 190 for 7 what happens? Another momentum change as a couple dropped chances allowed Kaif and Kumble to put on 128 for the 8th wicket. So India's in control, right?

Uh, no. In the late overs Harmison broke the partnership by getting Kumble and 4 runs later Panesar took Kaif out 9 short of a century.

So what's going to happen in days 4 and 5? I have no idea, but that's a sure sign of a great match. It's VERY unlikely that Sreesanth and Singh could give India a first-innings lead, but they could make things difficult for England's batsmen tomorrow. England will have to build a defensible lead, but it's really hard to say how much of a lead they will need. Jonathan Agnew seems to think England needs to bat all day on day 4 to secure a win, but the way this test has swung around I'm not so sure.