One of the greatest innings ever witnessed on Indian soil saved India the blues on the third day of the final Test against Pakistan. Subtract the 201 runs scored by Virender Sehwag from the Indian total and there was not much to rave about for the home team. The Pakistanis did a splendid job to send back batsmen like Gambhir and the dangerous duo of Dravid and Tendulkar despite all three batsmen getting off to starts. Gambhir guided Sami to second slip, Dravid was trapped plumb in front when he missed a paddle-sweep off Kaneria, and Tendulkar fell to a top-edge off 'partnership-breaker' Shahid Afridi. Sourav Ganguly's lean trot continued. He was 'stumped' literally and figuratively off a Kaneria googly one ball after he had been dropped by Younis Khan at silly point.

Although India saved the follow-on, they are still 191 runs in arrears, and if the remaining six wickets fall in the first couple of hours on the fourth day, the Pakistanis will back themselves to come out all guns blazing in the second innings and set India an unattainable target on the fifth day, on a spiteful pitch.

Several negative things have been said about the pitch in the last couple of days, but the fact is that it has behaved like a typical sub-continental pitch that favoured the batsmen on the first two days and started taking turn by the third day. Had India won the toss instead of Pakistan, the home team might well have been in a commanding position like their opponents are. And nothing would have been said about the pitch! But that is not taking anything away from the manner in which the visitors have overcome the trauma of the defeat at Kolkata and batted and bowled themselves into a potentially winning position at Bangalore.

One has to say 'batted and bowled', for the Pakistani fielding on day three was its Achilles Heel. When at one point, the bowlers were doing a fine job of containing the rampaging Sehwag, the men manning the infield were not as agile at preventing singles as their skipper and management would have liked. It was the only sore point for the visiting team on an otherwise memorable day.

Then there was Virender Sehwag. He played a spectacular knock. His treatment of the bowlers was contemptuous, and there was not much that the Pakistanis could do apart from waiting for him to get himself out. The high point of his innings was his winning a torrid duel with Mohammed Sami, who was really letting it rip. As is always the case, Sehwag lived on the edge, with a couple of chances falling short of the fielders, and the hoick that gave him his double hundred ballooning over mid-off's head. He got out when he drove too soon at Kaneria and gave the bowler a tame return catch. Earlier, he had got away on quite a few occasions.

That is the way Sehwag bats. He may fail on four out of ten occasions, but he will take his team to a strong position in the other six. There will always be the odd exception to the rule of course, and if Laxman and the lower order fail to last for atleast a session-and-a-half on day four, then this might just be one.

Having dismissed six Indian batsmen on day three, the Pakistanis will certainly be confident of their abilities to take ten Indian wickets on day five, by which time the wicket would have deteriorated even further. Kumble and Harbhajan will have to play important roles for India on the fourth day, first as batsmen and then bowlers. If the Indians reduce the deficit to less than 100, they will dent the prospects of a Pakistani victory severely.