Sehwag played his natural game till the very end of his glorious innings, getting away with some more chances that the Pakistani fielders let go off.

However, Sachin Tendulkar didn't play his natural game, and prodded on to 94 when he fell, six short of what would have been his record-breaking 35th Test hundred.

Although their fielding once again let them down and Mohammed Sami again ranked high in the 'no-ballers' list, the Pakistani bowlers did a fine containing job on day three of the first Test. Although the Indians are 135 ahead with four wickets in hand, Inzamam and Bob Woolmer will be a lot happier than what they would have been yesterday evening, when both Sehwag and Dravid looked ominous.

Sehwag's dismissal for a swashbuckling 173 was followed by a lean period for the Indians. The bowling was accurate, with Danish Kaneria the pick of the lot. He did his team and country proud with a marathon spell that pegged the batsmen down and kept them guessing. After Ganguly's dismissal to a fine catch at silly-point, in itself an achievement for the visiting team considering the way they have fielded, it was surprising to see Tendulkar and Laxman, two of India's best players of spin, struggle against Kaneria. The crowd, already restive with the go-slow tactics of the batsmen, fell silent when Tendulkar fell in the closing stages of the day's play. In fact, a sizeable number of people left the ground even as he made his way back to the pavilion. He now needs 27 more to become the fifth batsman in Test history after Gavaskar, Border, Steve Waugh and Brian Lara to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

Rahul Dravid, the second-highest run-getter in the current team, was the first man to be dismissed on the third day, being caught at point for 50.

Laxman was under pressure, with sections of the media blaming him for keeping out the likes of Yuvraj and Kaif from the Test XI. He was unbeaten on 33 at stumps, and it is he whom his captain will expect to try and stretch the lead to 200 atleast. If the Indians can somehow score 100 more runs in a session-and-a-half, they would fancy their chances of bowling out the Pakistanis in the last four-and-a-half sessions of the game.

Of course, all this is subject to the predicted thunderstorm not playing foul.