Bangalore Test, Day 3
Friday, December 21, 2001

It doesn't often rain in these parts, but there's nothing you can do about it when it happens. I haven't seen the forecast for the next couple of days, though with extra hours being added to the rest of the play, there is a lot of time left in this match. The bottom line is that India are 218 for 7. There's no point in getting frustrated about the weather – of course we want to be out in the middle, but patience is what it's all about in this game.

It's still a good wicket, but we've got a new ball in hand, and one or two cracks are developing for the seamers. Tomorrow we'll want to bag those three wickets quickly, get a lead of 70-80, and then look to bat for most of the day.

I do not see Tendulkar's wicket as any sort of vindication of our tactics. Offspinners bowl over the wicket to lefthanders day-in, day-out and nobody ever bats an eyelid. But we are not just playing against Sachin Tendulkar – we are playing against India, we had a gameplan, we stuck to it, and the match situation speaks for itself. And there's no point whatsoever in drawing comparisons between the way we are approaching the game out here, and the way we have played in the past, on greentops back home with a full-strength line-up. There's no comparison.

Only last year India were 500-odd for 6 against Australia, with VVS Laxman on 281. Today, our inexperienced attack of Hoggard, Flintoff, Giles and Dawson has the same side on 218 for 7. Enough said.

Still, we aren't even halfway through this match, and as a team we are certainly not good enough to look at anything but a session at a time. Things change quickly in the subcontinent – we might not even get those three wickets. But whatever happens, when we get our turn we will have to play it carefully. The new ball will be a threat, though they've only got Srinath to use it, but I can't second-guess what Ganguly's approach will be – I spend enough time racking my own brains, let alone his.

The wicket is more like an Aussie or English track – it's spent a lot of time under the covers, and there has been no sun about to open up any cracks for the spinners. Today's rain may also help hold it together. But all that could change – the wicket could start to grip, and the likes of Harbhajan and Kumble are unorthodox spinners who turn it both ways.

Matthew Hoggard has a big heart and deserves his wickets. It was my gut feeling that the ball would swing today, so we got it nicely shined-up, and so it proved. It's the first time we've got any orthodox swing out here – and there hasn't been a lot of reverse swing either.

Either way, it is important that we go on to bat for a good length of time and give our bowlers time to recover. I haven't toyed with my attack much, so I've torn the back out of them in the last few weeks. Hoggard had his foot in ice when I saw him a moment ago, Freddie's got painful shins and his back is playing up, while Ash's spinning finger is sore. But they need to make one big effort tomorrow morning.

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

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