India are hurtling towards defeat, with the spinners showing a distinct lack of ideas on a track not too conducive to their kind of bowling. Anil Kumble is a very limited bowler who has to bowl a middle-stump line. Anything that wavers on either side is likely to be punished, because of the pace at which he bowls. But he could have experimented with the length. He could have made the batsmen play the drive to mid-off or mid-on for a few overs as a change of tactics.

Shane Warne was a different bowler after his finger surgery; the big rip that he used to impart on the ball was missing when I faced him. I have been observing Kumble closely to find if I could detect any such change in his bowling, but I could not spot much difference or deterioration. But yes, we are not getting to see many of his famous flippers, as he is relying more on orthodox legspin and sometimes his own unique googlies.

Though Kumble does not look the force of old, I would wait to pass judgment until he plays against England on Indian soil, which is where he has been so successful.

The tours to Zimbabwe and South Africa have been a great education for young Harbhajan Singh. He has been a disappointment as he struggles to come to terms with foreign conditions. Like Kumble, he too did not show any sustained alterations in his game-plan. He too did not explore the possibilities of trapping the batsmen on the drive by bowling a fuller length for a few overs.

Sourav Ganguly's captaincy continues to baffle me, especially the manner in which he is employing Sachin Tendulkar as a bowler. With the ball old and the pitch rougher, Tendulkar should have been called on to bowl his variety of spinners to get a breakthrough.

Shaun Pollock was lucky to get away with a bat-pad umpiring decision in his favour. And this is where I want to compliment umpires from the subcontinent, who are excellent judges in adjudicating such decisions. I have seen a lot of celebrated umpires, including Dickie Bird, struggle to give correct judgments in India when the ball is turning a lot. Bat-pad decisions are never easy, and the South African umpires have fallen short in this respect.

The idea to use the floodlights in Test matches is good in principle, but if Jacques Kallis and Pollock felt that they could not sight the ball as well as they should, then they were well within their rights to be unhappy about it. South Africa have plenty of time in the Test to force a win - and anyway the lost time can be made up by starting early on the fourth day.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to H Natarajan

More Sanjay Manjrekar
Ganguly's tactical blunder
Srinath succeeds in the old-fashioned way

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd