Bangalore Test, Day 4
Saturday, December 22, 2001

I thought we'd get a lot more play than that today. But unfortunately there was heavy rain overnight so the outfield was damp at the start, and because it came back later on, that left just a little window around lunchtime to get any play in. It's disappointing, but we did our best while we could.

Obviously we had to push the game. We were a little sloppy in the field and a couple of chances went down, but the guys used the conditions well and Michael Vaughan pulled off a good run-out. Getting them all out for 238 was exactly what I wanted, and then it was just a case of getting as many runs as quickly as possible.

I'm still trying to get my head round how to play it tomorrow. It all depends on whether we get a full day's play or not. There are one or two thoughts about pushing certain people up the order and what-have-you, but what we do not want to do is simply hand them the game on a plate. It's still a pretty good wicket, it hasn't broken up as much as we'd expected, and if we left them 40 overs to get a nominal target there'd only be one winner.

I don't want to make too many predictions about tomorrow because, as I've said all along, it only takes a couple of hours for everything to turn on its head in Test cricket. It was two hours on the first day of the first Test that put us on the back foot in this series. From 200 for 3 we collapsed to 238 all out, and if we'd gone on to make 450 in that innings, like we've done since, there'd be everything to play for in this match.

We outplayed them at Ahmedabad, we've outplayed them here, and if it wasn't for all the rain we'd be well ahead of the game at the moment and quids in. We want to win, obviously, but a 2-0 defeat would not be a fair reflection of the series.

Other than the rain, it's been a really good Test match. It's a beautiful ground, Bangalore is a beautiful city, and the Barmy Army are out in force, so we've had a lot of support here. We haven't much of a chance to explore the city though. A few of the squad went out last night to a party hosted by Sachin Tendulkar's agent, but for those of us playing in the match it's just a case of getting into that Test-match mentality. Early nights all round.

We went back to the hotel this morning as there was no point in hanging around at the ground, and besides, we all needed to pack as we fly straight home after the finish tomorrow. For the rest of the day we just played a bit of football and tennis-ball cricket in the dressing-room, and talked drivel while the rain came down.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Andrew Miller. His thoughts will appear on Wisden.com throughout the Test and one-day series.

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