He flew in from the pavilion end after tea, face contorted in a gawky grimace. The eighth ball of his second spell landed on a length well outside off-stump, Ponting saw it cut in, plonked his foot forward and brought his bat close behind. For five seconds, he held the pose, staring at the spot where the ball had pitched, then turning back to look at the shattered stumps.

Shane Watson got a similar delivery a few overs later and went back instead of forward. He got rapped on the pads, plumb in front. From a breezy 49 for no loss, Australia were down to a shocking 58 for five, before Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin stitched together an unbroken 83-run partnership that ensured, if nothing else, that the match went into the final day.

Test cricket has a tendency, occasionally, to serve up some snooze-inducing fare, not all of which is intriguing and absorbing. It also provides days like Monday, which are played out at breakneck speed.

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir started off in exactly the same insolent mood that they were in on Sunday evening. At 100 for no loss overnight, they hit the ground running. It’s hard to imagine any batsman managing to keep pace with an in-the-mood Sehwag, but Gambhir did.

He started the day with a spanking cover drive off Shane Watson, and only got more aggressive from there on. He walked down the pitch to the faster bowlers, flicking and driving them over the in-field and the zone he was in, White’s as-yet harmless leg-breaks weren’t really going to trouble him.

... contd.