Second Test, India v Australia: Gilchrist Rueful As Weather Wrecks a Classic

Everyone was agreed: this was one of the greatest Test finishes there never was. Rain has seldom been as cruel as the downpour that washed away the thrillingly poised second Test here at Chepauk with India, at 19 without loss, needing another 210 to level the series with Australia.

Adam Gilchrist, the Australia captain, spoke for everyone when he said: "It was shaping up to be a classic, wasn't it? I lay in bed last night wondering what the outcome was going to be, all the different ways it could go."

India had the edge, a point conceded by Gilchrist. "The result was anyone's guess," he said. "Both teams had every reason to be optimistic about today, though India may have had their noses slightly in front. It's a very frustrating way to finish."

His opposite number Sourav Ganguly, who kept the press conference waiting three hours while he attended a selection meeting, then surprised his audience by refraining from dusting off the "we wuz robbed" line. "It was a 50-50 game," he said. "Anybody could have won. All I can say is that we were in a position to win the game, just as Australia were in a position to win the game."

Play was abandoned at lunchtime, when it was still raining. Now both camps have a mini-break, a chance to refresh and regroup before the third of the four Tests gets under way in Nagpur a week today.

"We've got four or five days off now, where we can relax and get away from cricket," said Gilchrist. "It's a very timely break. It's nice to take stock at the halfway point of the series and analyse what's worked and what hasn't worked, to reassess. But I'm delighted with the way everything has gone so far."

South Africans will recall, with some bitterness, the rain during their 1992 World Cup semi-final with England, which required them to score 22 runs from a single ball when the match had been in the balance. England supporters still twitch and mutter darkly when reminded of Trinidad 1990, when Caribbean showers and Desmond Haynes's time-wasting robbed England of the chance to go 2-0 up in the series. But into every cricket team a little rain must fall - and every supporter has an umbrella with which to hammer his point.

Yesterday's, though, seemed to lash at the heart of the very game itself, for many neutrals have been captivated by the heroic nature of the recent tussles between these sides. And this match, like the eddies of a busy stream, had twisted and doubled back on itself until it became uncertain where it would ultimately flow. Until the banks burst.

India can console themselves with the thought that although they have had the luck go against them, losing the toss twice and then missing the chance to level the series here, they have still managed to bowl out Australia twice in each match, with their spinners in prime form.

Next week the left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra will replace the rib-injured Irfan Pathan, but the wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel has survived despite an acute attack of dropsy over the past few days. Sachin Tendulkar has been named in the squad but is unlikely to be ready to play.