Test cricket, they say, is something that the non-cricketing world will struggle to comprehend in an age wherein the ICC is actively trying to 'globalise' the game. One-day cricket, the cricket-illiterates might understand, Twnety20, they will possibly understand, but five-day, 30-hour cricket....... One really doesn't know.

However, if the ICC is serious about publicizing the traditional version of the sport to the cricket-illiterate regions as succinctly as possible, they need look no further than day one of the second Test between cricket's greatest rivals (with due apologies to fans of the Ashes).

It was a day's cricket replete with fascinating batting, deceptive bowling and above all, a terrific twist in the tale, all of which make Test cricket the ultimate form of the sport, the supreme 'test' of a cricketer's abilities and character.

India dominated the first two sessions. Virender Sehwag was his usual pugnacious self, caring a damn about the fielders placed all around him, and intent on slamming the ball to the fence as many times as he could. The Pakistanis ought to have anticipated the aggressive tactics that the Indian batsmen adopted against Danish Kaneria. His bowling at Mohali had won him the respect of the Indians, but the home team clearly did not want him to start well and settle down. They were expected to attack him from the beginning and dent his confidence, and so they did. The visitors probably missed a trick by not crowding the batsmen with close-in fielders as soon as the leg-spinner was brought on.

Sehwag missed a hundred for the taking, when he allowed himself to get just a little ruffled by Shahid Afridi, who has probably taken as many wickets with his verbal abilities as his bowling abilities. His proficiency at upsetting his opponents with some acerbic comments can be an asset to his side. Tendulkar brought the spectators and TV viewers to their feet when he turned Razzaq for a single to become the fifth batsman and second Indian to complete 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He was solid, as was his partner Rahul Dravid, who seemed to be seeing it like a football from the moment he took strike.

Dravid was in gorgeous nick, his drives and cuts a purist's delight. The match looked like running away from the Pakistanis when Afridi and then Razzaq brought about a twist. Afridi had Tendulkar caught behind for 52, and Razzaq packed off local boy Ganguly and 'happy hunter' VVS Laxman off consecutive deliveries. Laxman's wicket was a huge blow, considering his awesome record at the Eden Gardens. Younisd Khan, deputizing for Inzamam who left the field in the second session due to stomach cramps, sensibly did not take the new ball, with Razzaq 'reversing' the old cherry very well and effectively. Despite some fine strokes by Dinesh Kartik, Pakistan kept attacking in the final overs, and they capped their domination of the third session with Dravid nicking a Kaneria leg-break to Akmal in the last over of the day. Earlier, he had completed his 19th Test hundred, a splendid knock.

The Indians slid in the post-tea session from a commanding 278-2 to a worrying 344-6. It is now upto young Kartik and the 'all-rounders' Pathan and Balaji to take the score to 400, a total that the Indians will consider as 'satisfactory'. If Harbhajan Singh gets going with his 'heave-hos', there will be many smiling faces in the Indian dressing-room and all over the country.

At one stage, with Dravid and Tendulkar in full flight, a total of 600 seemed a distinct possibility. Full marks to Pakistan for not throwing in the towel.