If yesterday was Sachin Tendulkar Day, then today surely belonged to three players - one about to end his cricket career, another just beginning, and finally a swashbuckling captain that just gets better with additional responsibility. Saurav Ganguly got his 16th century, his second against Australia and his first against Australia in India. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, leading the side for just the second time, took the attack to the Aussies and displayed to the world just how frail the bowling department has become for the once mighty Australians. And finally, Amit Mishra, bowling in his first match, picked up 2 key wickets to rattle the visitors on the second day of the match.

But first lets talk about Ganguly. He had declared before the start of the series that will quit from International cricket at the conclusion of the fourth match. This series belongs to him, more so than anyone else in the Indian cricket team. This is also a key moment in Indian cricket history as it marks the beginning of an end of the Fab 4 that have captured the minds and souls of cricket fans over the last decade.

Ganguly was never in control today, as much as he was on the first day. The pressure was definitely on him. India started the day with 5 wickets down. Batting on this pitch was still paradise. India only had Dhoni left after Ganguly. This was Ganguly’s time and the old fox did no disappoint his plethora of fans (some of who are adamant that he reconsider his retirement). Ganguly got to the magical 3 figure mark with a lot of grit and patience. And the moment was absolute bliss for a man who wanted to go out on his own terms. THIS will prove a point to all his past and current detractors and the old selection committee, who had been unfairly harsh on this legend.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, aka MS, aka Mahi, came at a stage when Australia were looking to wrap up the Indian innings at a below-par total. His first ball was a short pitch delivery from Brett Lee, aimed at his head, was hooked to backward square leg for a boundary. That was the turning point in Australia’s dwindling fortunes in this series so far. MS took the attack to the opposition as only he can. He bludgeoned debutante Peter Siddle for 2 towering sixes and did the same to newcomer Cameron White. His innings was one of pure aggression and full of purpose. No wonder the whole of HIS team looks up to the natural leader. Excellent timing was combined with brute force. Only an error in judgement from the umpire finally ended a supreme innings of 92 runs in only 115 balls.

Australia started their second innings after spending over 5 sessions in blistering heat in Mohali. The shock loss of Mathew Hayden off just the third delivery of the innings, did not help the morale of the visitors. Zaheer Khan has now got his man 3 times out of 3 innings in this series so far. Hayden slump continued and so did Australia’s as Ponting came in.

Ponting admitted after the first day of the first match, that Hayden’s early departure was actually a blessing in disguise for him as he did not have to face the spinners straightaway. Today was the same scenario repeated again. This time, however, Ishant was not going to let Ponting get away. A close LBW shout was followed by another one a couple of balls later. The excruciatingly slow raise of the finger from Rudi Kuertzen was just the tonic that India needed in the second test.

At the start of the season, Ian Chappell mentioned the following in a Cricinfo.com article:

In my time of watching, playing and commentating, I’ve only seen a couple of poor Australian sides and the 2008 version isn’t one. However, since Australia defeated West Indies in 1995-96 to become unofficial world champions, they’ve never looked this vulnerable.

How true that sounds now. Australia are definitely on the decline. Their top order is extremely fragile with only Ponting in any kind of form.

The stage was set for first timer Amit Mishra to display his skills. The first over was spot on. He leaked a couple of boundaries but then he came back with a beauty of a leg-break that went through Simon Katich’s defense to take the leg stump off an inside edge. Mishra had his first Test wicket in an international game. And it was only going to get better as he trapped an increasingly confident looking Michael Clarke in front of the wicket off the last ball of the second day. The strategy to come around the wicket to bowl to Clarke was Dhoni’s idea and it paid off straightaway, again highlighting what a good reader of the game he really is.

India are now in the driver’s seat with Australia relying on Michael Hussey to lead them through the second innings. Even Hussey has not looked quite confident and with the ball reverse swinging and turning, this is not going to be a day that Australia would want to look forward to.

Watch Day 2 Highlights

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