Ahmedabad Test, Day 3
Thursday, December 13, 2001

I'm a guy who has a lot of respect for the game of cricket and its traditions, and sometimes you just have to hold your hand up and accept that you're playing against a genius. I had never captained against Sachin Tendulkar before this series, and I can now say that he is bloody difficult to bowl at! It was a very special innings from a very special player.

I'm pleased though - we went out there this morning and stuck to our gameplan, with one or two modifications along the way. I sensed that Sachin was trying to get on with things early on, so we bowled wide of the off stump, with 8-1 and 7-2 fields, and I guess making an innings of that quality stretch over five hours rather than two is a victory of sorts. In all, they barely scored at more than two an over all day, and my bowlers can be very proud of that. Andrew Flintoff once again showed what he can bring to the party, and long may it last. He rocked up late in the day, and worked up enough pace with a 70-over ball to hit Laxman on the head. Between him and White we've got a bloody good allrounder!

I somehow took the catch that got Tendulkar out, but more than just my heart was in my mouth I can tell you! To be honest I simply didn't see the ball. The crowds here are extraordinary – every time Sachin touches the ball they all surge forward in a mass, and I simply lost it in the background. Then suddenly it popped out from behind Laxman at the non-striker's end, I grabbed at it, palmed it up, and as it came down again, I twigged – "it was Tendulkar who hit this". I was very happy to hold on to that one!

Ashley Giles has been working so hard to regain his fitness, and he really earned his wickets today. He's been training at Lilleshall back home, had regular sessions in the gym, and he's been working with Nigel Stockill and Dean Conway the physios out here, but he's still only about 80% fit. Again the temptation was there to bowl him all day, but he's had a serious Achilles operation, so the most important thing was to make sure he was right when I needed him the most. We bowled Daws for a bit, and mixed the seamers up, but Ash came back at the end there and cleaned up.

Anil Kumble accidentally trod on Richard Dawson's spinning finger, but he's fine. It was a freak incident, and it looked pretty painful at the time, but he was able to carry on, and we're going to need him in the second innings.

The pitch is holding up well so far, but it's just starting to turn and from here it can only get worse. The longer we bat on it the better, but tomorrow will not just be about survival. We know we'll have to be wary, as we're up against two quality spinners on a dusting track, but at the same time we must go out there with a positive mindset and play genuine Test cricket. There's no question of slogging for two sessions and seeing where we end up.

I haven't even thought about a target yet – this Indian line-up reminds me to a certain extent of the Essex side in the early `90s. In those days nobody ever dared declare against us, as they knew what our line-up – Gooch, Mark Waugh, Brian Hardie, Paul Prichard – was capable of. With these Indians a lot depends on what side of bed their stars get out on. Laxman, Ganguly, Dravid, not to mention Tendulkar, anyone of them can turn a game.

But we can't afford to be cagey about it. Whoever wants to win this match will have to seize the moment. We will play nice and safe for two sessions tomorrow, then take a look at where we are.

We've just heard that there's been a terrorist attack in Delhi, but really that's of no relevance to us. These things happen out here, and it puts into perspective and justifies the concerns that were voiced before we flew out. But there are no problems from our point of view - we're out here to play Test cricket, and we're being very well looked after.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Andrew Miller. His thoughts will appear on Wisden.com throughout the Test and one-day series.

More Nasser Hussain
Watching, learning, improving

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd