A sullen, forlorn Bhajji, whose bunny was stolen away!

In the morning session, when India were fighting a grim battle for substantial score, Sachin was seen trying to infuse some humour into off the field proceedings. He had Harbhajan for company. However, Bhajji looked sullen, and in reflective mode. And why not.

If he does get banned by the ICC for few tests, this omission will not count! Was that bothering him? Could well be.

Or was the heartbreak of being omitted from the Indian squad on a pitch, where bounce would have suited him, dominating his thought process. After all, Steve Waugh too felt the same way, as he wrote. ‘’Spinners can profit here, but ones who rely on bounce, such as Harbhajan Singh, are normally a better bet than your skidding types such as Brad Hogg. India's selectors obviously disagree because they axed Harbhajan, whom I felt may have bowled well.’’

Or was it the fact that his bunny (on ground)-turned nemesis-(following complaints to the ICC), was in danger of being let off the hook in the absence of his terminator.

Fortunately for India, Ponting was found wanting today even when turbunator was not there. But no amount of celebrations from Ishant Sharma can match the matchless acrobatics of Bhajji at Sydney, when he had claimed Ponting for the eighth time.

At least one of the Cameras today should have been targeted towards the pavilion, showing how Bhajji reacted once Ponting was dismissed. Probably, he would have cast aside all his disappointment, breaking into a jig – another matchless one!

Harbhajan has gone mad!

It is the eighth time Harbhajan has trapped the Australian captain and ''he has gone mad.''

This is how a commentator reacted after Harbhajan got Ricky Ponting for the eighth time in his career. Apt words to describe Bhajji's reactions after another tremendous display by the turbanator against the World's premier batsman.

Few over before , After Phil Jacques had lifted Anil Kumble to midwicket boundary to give Australia a sense of relief by getting them in lead (without losing a wicket), things were looking increasingly difficult for India indeed, in terms of winning this match.

Now with two critical wickets fallen, one will hope for India to get few more in the post lunch session. The key will be to get Australia all out before the end of day’s play, otherwise chasing an Australian target of 250-300 on Sunday will put India under pressure again.

Going by the way how Australia continued with their assault even after losing wickets in the first two tests, the only way to stop this team is by taking wickets at the regular intervals and finishing them off.

If Australia survive the day without a major weather interruption, the 60-65 odd overs after lunch time, at a rate of just over four runs, will take them to an additional 250 runs. They lead by 21 at lunch.

Getting them out at the earliest is also important for another reason. India’s fourth innings displays of late have not really been encouraging despite making those 200 odd runs against Pakistan at Delhi.

But then strange things have happened in cricket before. Including the showers which started soon after the umpires signalled lunch, which usually the opposition welcomes, and not this Australian team!