Dour day at Motera

On a day, when there were more misfortunes for Attappattu than for Sehwag, Indian batsmen played as if trying to steer a raft amidst high seas. Lanka had lost Vaas & Dlihara due to the virus and lost the 3^rd successive toss too. On a featherbed, all India had to do was to amaze a 1^st day score of 350+ but they batted in a miserly fashion and ended up a good 100 runs short. I had seen VVS crib often that he is not getting many chances to hit 100s, when he used to bat at number 6 (during the Ganguly era) and had to play with the tail. Here, he had an absolute gift at Motera and he could have stroked all the way to a 150 n.o from a none too threatening attack but he choose to display a deep slumber, dormant mood and ended the day at 71 n.o. But for Dhoni, the rest choose to play too cautiously and that includes Pathan. Yuvaraj again showed that he is going to be suspect against spin and the manner of his dismissal – caught off a traditional offspinner at slip, while defending, left me with an opinion that he has to quickly bridge this gap; otherwise, top sides will eat him up easily and he will be a laughing stock by the end of Pak tour. Gambhir could not resist the pull, Sehwag played the wrong line, Sachin was surprised by the bounce and Kaif wasted a golden chance. Agreed that India had to battle back from 97/5 but the last 15 overs, when Lanka were going through the motion, Pathan & VVS could have creamed another 50-60 more.
Another point which did not go without my notice was the the 1st hour lost due to dew on the ground. Give me a break !! Pawar was present in A'bad and everyone in the Northern hemisphere knew that this is winter in N. India. What the hell ? In this day of Super Soppers, an hour lost - yikes.!! What was GCA upto? Some things never change. Never ever.
I think, there is going to be a result in this match (inspite of the deadpan scoring pattern and an ever worst over rate) and whoever takes a decent 1^st innings lead is likely to win.