Simon Katich vs Gautam Gambhir

Here’s some footage from the altercation between Katto and Ghambir from the third session on Day 1.

I’ve watched it a bunch of times and from my observations there was a bit of argy bargy that almost leads to a run-out escallates when Ghambir try’s to tell Billy that Katich was cheating by getting in his way. Katto responds with “that’s f’ucking shit man”. Brett Lee comes past and throws a few inaudible words of support behind his NSW captain, then Katto and Ghambir are at it again and you hear Simon utter “F’uck off mate”. Billy steps in when it looks like they might up the ante, and Michael Clarke comes in to calm the farm. Clarke has to make a pretty solid effort of holding back Katich who by this time looks like he wants to punch on.

Day 4, where to from here?

I'm a rock star

Rock Star

So, what are the options from here on in?

Wave the white flag

This is the most likely scenario, considering Rick in pretty much hoisted it last night. At 0/100 India were happy to take the easy runs on offer at a quick scoring rate. Maybe Rick(y) will declare 587 runs behind so he can spend an extra day in Singapore with the missus, I hear the zoo is pretty good there and you can get cheap electronics. Not so sure about multivitamins though.

Just go through the motions and India will continue to accumulate quickly. When a wicket does fall, don’t be surprised to see Dhoni moved up the order, he’s young and open to experimenting – no need to have Dravid apply the breaks. Moving up the order would be an aggressive sign of intent, exactly how MS wants to be seen.
Result: India win by 500+

Attack and get Sehwag cheaply

This will bring in Dravid and slow down India’s scoring a lot. Ghambir is a chameloin who bats just like the bloke at the other end, so we could probably milk an extra session before the declaration if we can keep Dravid and Ghambir in.

Result: India win by 200

Bowl with some balls

Should Lee find his kahuna’s and come out to lead the Baggy Green attack, we could tear through the Indian batting lineup this morning and be looking at 5 sessions to chase 400.
Alas this would mean the pitch now has some venom which the Indian bowlers would only be too happy to exploit, making our batting for a draw all the more difficult

Result: India win by 200 runs

Shut up shop

We’ll have to make a huge improvement on our first innings effort, against an inspired Indian outfit and on a wicket that will likely get worse as it wears. Khan’s already been warned twice for following through into Singh’s landing area so that’ll provide some additional assistance to the Indian bowling outfit.

Honestly though I can’t see any of our batsmen surviving a day out there. This is their big chance to stand up and cement a spot in the lineup for eternity however. Katich could be a key here, he’s the type of bloke who could do it.

Result: Prolong the pain into Day 5

Do the rain/light dance

Well it worked for India in Bonnydoon.