India, April 6 -- With a wide first slip and a fine gully in place, Xavier Bartlett barrelled in from the High Court End, releasing the ball with a high arm action after getting as close to the umpire as possible. The idea was to get the ball to shape away from just short of good length, hoping to lure the dangerous Finn Allen into a wild flash outside off-stump. Hope probably isn't the right word considering the Aussie pacer was operating with a new ball on a fairly green Eden Gardens pitch with moisture laden clouds hovering over it.

Conviction probably. Nothing else justifies the lengths Bartlett hit to take Allen and Cameron Green by surprise. Test lengths more specifically, the kind rarely given a thought in the constantly evolving ...