This is turning out to be more like a game of snakes and ladders than anything else. Or perhaps an analogy with chess would be better. The fourth day's play at one stage had swung so much in Australia's favour that one was left wondering whether India would be able to even save the Test.
The faces at the stadium were getting taut with worry. With teatime approaching, Australia had not even lost a wicket. The masterly fashion in which Damien Martyn was crafting an innings of enormous quality and incredible skill took everyone's breath away.
Australia at 284 for 4, were 143 runs ahead and the Test was slipping away from India's hands. The spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh could not even dislodge Jason Gillespie, who, with his forward defensive lunges and soft hands, defied whatever the Indian bowlers threw at him.
The Australians had also found an able ally in Parthiv Patel. It seemed there were no hands inside his keeping gloves as he could hardly gather the ball and gave Gillespie a reprieve twice. So shoddy has been his work that he has no business to be keeping wickets for India.