Sachin Tendulkar's innings today was played in three parts: before lunch, he defended his way to 46 from 95 balls (strike rate 48%); in the afternoon, his run-gathering picked up momentum, as 56 runs came from 89 deliveries(strike rate 63%); post-tea, he dawdled inexplicably, making just 35 from 88 balls (39.7%). On a sluggish pitch where all the batsmen struggled to score off the front foot (SS Das made only 33 runs from 120 balls when he played forward), Tendulkar seemed to have found the answer. In the afternoon session, he made 40 from 66 balls on the front foot, an excellent strike rate of 60.6%. However, after tea, he managed just 17 runs from 55 balls when playing forward. His scoring rate from good-length balls tells the story: 53.7% in the second session, and an appalling 14% in the third.

Ray Price, the left-arm spinner, was by far Zimbabwe's best bowler. The key to his bowling was his length – 181 out of 210 balls were on a good length (86.2%). The biggest compliment to his bowling was his head-to-head against Tendulkar: in 69 balls when he pitched on a good length, Tendulkar scored a mere 15 runs. Of the 41 times that he wasn't in control of his shot, 16 were off Price. Price clearly deserved his four wickets.

S Rajesh is sub-editor of Wisden.com India.

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