India v Australia, 3rd Test, Delhi

Clarke drives Australia towards safety

• Patient century all but ensures draw in Delhi
• India close on 43 for two, a lead of 79

In the groove: Michael Clarke drives during his century on day four at Delhi. 

In Antigua tonight, cricket will take an almighty leap into a murky future. In Delhi over the last four days, India and Australia have taken an equally large jump back to a grubby past, when paint dried, grass grew and bore draws predominated.

This Test has been like something out of the 70s and 80s. On day four, Michael Clarke made his eighth Test century and his third of the year to guide Australia to 577 all out, a first-innings deficit of 36. India, 1-0 up in the series with one match to play after this, closed on 43 for two in their second innings, a lead of 79. It could be a very long final day.

Or it might just be an unforgettably dramatic one. The narrative of the match has been eerily similar to that of the Adelaide Ashes Test two years ago, when Australia won in epic fashion on the last day. There is, however, one small difference: in that Test, Australia had Shane Warne to get under England's skin and inside their heads before and during the final day. Now they have Cameron White, and so a draw seems certain.

Australia resumed in the morning on 338 for four, with Clarke on 21 and Shane Watson on four. Their fifth-wicket partnership reached 73 when Watson, who cuffed eight fours in a chipper 36, was bowled round his legs from over the wicket by Virender Sehwag.

The wicketkeeper Brad Haddin continued his unhappy habit of getting a start and then getting out: he breezed to 17 before being stumped to give Anil Kumble his first Test wicket for three months and 85 overs.

Sehwag then prompted wild celebrations by taking the first five-wicket haul of his first-class career when he bowled White - who like so many England spinners of the past two decades seems able to contribute with bat but not ball - for a very good 44. Sehwag was by far the pick of the Indian attack and finished with five for 104.

All the while Clarke ploughed on, dancing hyperactively around the crease on the balls of his feet as is his wont. He was dropped three times - including twice in the nineties off Sehwag, first by VVS Laxman and then Amit Mishra - but otherwise played splendidly, if with unusual restraint.

He hit only six fours and one six, a withering pull off Mishra; his century, which took 219 deliveries, came from the last ball before tea when he cut Sehwag for a couple. Eventually he was the ninth man to fall, holing out to long-off off the bowling of Amit Mishra after being stuck with the tail.

India were left with a tricky 13-over spell to negotiate before the close. They lost Sehwag, playing on to Brett Lee, and the nightwatchman Ishant Sharma, roughed up with contemptuous ease by Stuart Clark. By the close they were effectively 79 for two; on the close at day four in that Adelaide Test, England were in a not dissimilar position, effectively 97 for one. But that, surely, is where the comparison ends.