India and Bangalore plunged in gloom India started the third day badly, losing Rahul Dravid for a snail-like 3 off 61 balls and Sourav Ganguly for a duck. Bloemfontein heroes Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag then had to contend with a persistent leg-stump line from Ashley Giles, patiently padding away most of the balls and dispatching the rare bad ones for as many runs as possible. Sehwag grabbed the initiative after coming to terms with the wicket, using his feet to hit Giles over mid-wicket. Tendulkar repeated that tactic, also sweeping Giles fine for fours. But the little master charged Giles once too often, stumped for the very first time in his career. Sehwag remained unperturbed, attacking Matthew Hoggard and Giles with abandon. He fell after reaching his fifty, caught behind just before the heaviest rain delay of the much-interrupted day prevented any play in the final session.

Kumble: I'm happy I reached 300 wickets before the second innings For a cricketer who is humble, well-behaved, and uncontroversial, Anil Kumble has more detractors than one would expect. The Karnataka bowler, who notched up 300 Test wickets, when he trapped Matthew Hoggard lbw on the second day of the third Test against England, became the first Indian spinner to achieve the feat. "It is a good feeling to reach the milestone of 300 wickets. I had to wait a long time to get there, but it is well worth the wait," said Kumble. After taking 18 wickets in the first two Tests, Kumble struggled to pick up the magical one. The ace leggie appeared anxious, and clearly anticipation weighed down heavily on his broad shoulders. "That's cricket. You work the whole day, toiling hard. Sometimes you're lucky and pick wickets, on other days you have nothing to show for it. I was just being positive and knew that things had to change at some point. The one wicket today was very important, and I'm happy I got over that before the start of the second innings," said Kumble. Kumble's style of bowling might have gotten him wickets by the truckload, but it has given enough room for critics to moan about him being a 'pretender' as a leg-spinner. If they were not answered by the matches that Kumble has won for India, or the fact that he has taken more wickets than any Indian spinner in the history of the game, his words might come as a prick to the conscience. "I have my own style as a bowler. My job is to get wickets. How different people do it doesn't concern me; each person has his own style."

The MCC boys do their bit for the spirit of the game Over the years, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has been the body that sets the tone for the spirit of the game. It came as little surprise, then, that the MCC was hard at work in Bangalore too. Stacked on a table was a set of flyers; one side had on it an image of Sachin Tendulkar playing a square drive. Under it was a quote from the little master: "Cricketers should always respect their opponents." On the other side were little notes about various aspects, including the Responsibility of Captains, Players' Conduct and Fair & Unfair Play. If one is unconvinced about the role of the MCC with regard to keeping up the high standards of sportsmanship once followed, one need look no further than the fact that they have printed copies in Hindi and Marathi as well, just to reach out to young children in India. But it was indeed ironic that the flyers were being handed out during a Test that saw the depths of unsportsmanlike behaviour being plumbed much too often.

So a clean sweep was not possible this time around, but it isn't like it has not happened. Relive the golden memories of 1992-93 with Nostalgia. Click Here Not yet a member of the most happening cricket community? Join Stumped - CricInfo's online cricket club. Click Here Three centuries in the first three Tests - a dream for every youngster, but only one lived it out. Mohammad Azharuddin's record-breaking feat on Nostalgia. Click Here