Sehwag's offside majesty

Virender Sehwag's blistering unbeaten 95 was a typically characteristic innings, with plenty of runs scored in the arc between third man and extra cover. As the wagon-wheel shows, 63 of his runs came in that region, while only nine came in the V between mid-off and mid-on.

Batsmen in control
He was especially severe on Pakistan's new-ball bowlers, Mohammad Sami (22 runs off 23 balls), and Naved-ul-Hasan (35 off 35). The one bowler who did manage to keep him somewhat shackled was Danish Kaneria, whose 31 balls to Sehwag went for only 17 - that's only slightly more than three runs per over. Kaneria was also the bowler who troubled Sehwag the most - Sehwag was not in control of his shots more than 22% of the time against Kaneria (7 out of 31 balls), while for his entire innings that figure was only 15% (18 out of 121). Sehwag may have been the dazzler on an overcast day in Mohali, but his partner at close of play, Rahul Dravid, offered yet another impeccable exhibition of batsmanship, and clearly demonstrated why Pakistan fear him even more than Sachin Tendulkar - Dravid's not-in-control factor was a shockingly low five percent (fours balls out of 80).

Pakistanis off the mark
Pakistan's bowlers were at the receiving end right from the start of the second day, and what was surprising was the inability of their fast bowlers to extract movement with the new ball - almost 69% of the deliveries bowled in the first 15 overs were straight balls, allowing the batsmen to comfortably hit through the line of the ball. In the corresponding period of Pakistan's innings yesterday, only 36% of the deliveries were straight, which meant that Pakistan's top order needed to be far circumspect about playing shots.