Rain soured the spirits of the Indian spectators at Mohali, who had thronged the ground in the hope of watching the Indian response to a so-so Pakistani score of 312. As the drizzle continued, the 'faithfuls' stayed on, hoping that the rain-gods would stop crying. Finally, they did.

The relieved spectators were settling back into their seats when Virender Sehwag got going. The way he was batting, it was as if the rain-gods, feeling guilty that they had deprived the spectators of cricket earlier in the day, had assigned him the job of compensating them with a deluge of emphatic strokes. Not that Sehwag needed to be assigned such a job, for it was for him, another day in the office. He and Gambhir added 113 before the latter fell to the impressive Danish Kaneria, who was clearly Pakistan's best bowler. In all fairness to the visitors, the pitch did not provide them as much assistance as it did the Indians on the first day, but the bowlers did themselves no favours by being way off the mark and 'bowling' into Sehwag's hands. Mohammed Sami, for whom the tour is an excellent opportunity to establish himself as Pakistan's premier strike bowler in the absence of the Rawalpindi Express, did not bowl a disciplined line, and the others followed suit.

To top it all, they gave Sehwag two 'lives'. The last time they were so generous to him, he scored 309.

Kaneria will clearly be Inzamam's best hope to try and peg the Indian batsmen back on day three. At no cost should Pakistan allow India to amass a huge lead. Sehwag finished the day just five short of a hundred, and Rahul Dravid, who has been in fine nick in the domestic games, looked good.

Indian supporters have a lot to look forward to on day three