The winning mentality...

[Maranello]

Not sure how much of that was entirely their fault. Some good bowling there, and the Indian team built up pressure well, first through Balaji, and then by the two spinners. The pitch was also difficult to bat on, the ball keeping low, having no pace at all (it was more than 100 overs old), etc. Not many of the Pak dismissals were due to ODI-type slogs gone wrong, which is not something one can very often about our batsmen.

[Ernest]

For a poor pitch Maranello, there have been 3 innings of arround 400, Sami has bowled hostile, hitting Laxman, but did not stop Dravid getting a good 100.

Hope Pakistan goes for the win, arround 420, would be nice to see a bit of history.

[Maranello]

Good question Ern, the pitch has not really broken up as much as expected/feared. It is very slow, and has uneven bounce in some areas where it has broken up, with the ball sometimes keeping low. However, apart from that, as long as you keep your head and play sensibly, batsmen can still stay around. Run scoring though is not as easy here as it was at Mohali (the first Test) where on the fifth day, the pitch had good bounce and carry, decent pace and some predictability.

Harbhajan and Kumble will look to exploit the rough on Day 5; the ball from Kaneria that got Karthik really did come in a very long way. Also, don't expect Ganguly to go for a new ball; once this ball gets 60 or 70 overs old, it will become much harder to play it off the spinners and even the two pacers. Run-scoring will not be easy, but by no means impossible either. Ganguly has the runs to be very attacking whilst emplying a twin spin attack, and those are not the conditions most batsmen find easy to cope with.

On the bright side though, the only period in this match when the bowlers were well and truly on top was on Day 3, after Pakistan lost Inzamam, and Harbhajan and Kumble bowled brilliantly. However apart from that, it has been a very even tussle, and a great Test.

[Zainub]

This is not a poor pitch, India just bowled extremely well in that period. We didn't play particularly badly. Just like today I guess. India didn't bowl badly to Afridi, he just played well.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

This is not a poor pitch,

Then surlely all results are there for the taking, if Pakistan bat good, and India bowl poor, a lot depends on last day attitude, Pakistan must not think history is against them, neither must india likewise, ineresting hours to come.

[Zainub]

Very interesting, a lot will depend on the first session/hour ... a good start for either side might hurt the other side's chance significantly

ps: not a poor pitch by test match standards, but it will behave like any test mathc standard pitch will on day 5 of a test, few balls will keep low and it will turn big time from out side left hander's off stump