31 July 2007

Beautiful.

Everything was just the way it should be. England showed just enough resistance to make me sit up and take notice, but not nearly enough to make me fret. Vaughan showed the world once again, why he was such a highly regarded batsman. If Ganguly was the artist on the third day, here was Vaughan - determined to sculpt a masterpiece. Strokes flowing freely from his bat, he dominated Anil Kumble through the day, and it was only a moment of charecteristic cricketing fortune that got Vaughan out. The scoresheet will say bowled, Zaheer Khan. And he deserved it too, all nine of those wickets, bowling such taut swing bowling. What a remarkable comeback it has been for this man, a far cry from his extremely wayward days hardly a couple of seasons ago! And he had to work hard for it too. Strauss and Collingwood did hang around, and it would not have been too tough to give it all up. To India's credit, both Zaheer and RP were spot on through the day, and Sreesanth had his usual quota of dangerous deliveries too. RP picked up two crucial wickets, both with screaming inswingers delivered from around the stumps: Kevin Pietersen thrust his pad out, while Prior had his middle stump uprooted with a ball that is going to see many many television replays.
Contentment is already here. Now for the Indian victory. It wont be too late.

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