Those trends were holding true Thursday prior to the fa

A dry pitch - especially so in the good and full length areas - is set to be rolled out in Mohali for the third Test of the series, which India lead 1-0. The expectation is that it would be spin-friendly, like it was against South Africa last year.There was a time when fast bowlers would look forward to matches at the PCA stadium. There was a time when it was the fastest and bounciest track in the country. Indias current coach Anil Kumble was part of a few of them. He was one of Dion Nashs six victims in 1999, when New Zealand bundled India for 83. Javagal Srinath returned the kindness with 6 for 45 in a drawn game. Courtney Walsh and Kenny Benjamin decimated India here in 1994. The Wisden report read: Only [Navjot Singh] Sidhu was out, but [Manoj] Prabhakar was led off after one over, his nose broken by a ball from Walsh that burst through his helmet grille. That made the Indian batsmen uneasy, especially on a pitch which continued to play true; it retained some bounce to the end and the ball moved in the morningThose days, however, are firmly in the past. The last Test played in Mohali was on a pitch that spun from day one, while in the most recent first-class match, Delhi piled on 495 in their first innings in a drawn game against Odisha..It has certainly gone a lot slower to what it probably used to be in the 90s, Kumble said. But having said that, I am someone who certainly does not give too much importance to the conditions. We need to play good cricket. I certainly believe that we played good cricket, both in Rajkot and in Vizag. Thats why we are 1-0 ahead in the series. We will have to do that again, repeat that again in Mohali, no matter what the conditions are. Like I have said over the years, I think it has certainly gone slightly slower, not necessarily the way it used to be in the early 90s.The cooler climate would be a welcome relief for the bowlers though and there may be some sideways movement in the first half hour, but when there is so little grass on the surface, you cant expect it to do too much for the seamers, said Englands Chris Woakes.As such, both sides may be tempted to continue with three spinners. India certainly had great success with Jayant Yadav, who Kumble felt had a dream debut in Visakhapatnam. As a youngster coming into this team, he showed a lot of character, a lot of maturity although he was playing his first match, in the way handled batting with the lower order.Even in the second innings, batting with Shami and getting those 30-40 runs right at the end showed a lot of maturity. The way he bowled was quite impressive. It really augurs well for Indian cricket that someone who has just come into the team has really shown that kind of a approach.Kumble was also very impressed with the way Indias bowlers have handled their workloads without compromising on their disciplines. It was not easy because they bowled close to 240 overs in Rajkot and within three days, in the last Test match, the bowlers bowled almost 200 overs, he said. Its never easy going back-to-back even if you have five bowlers, but still the effort and they way the responded and the way they went about being very relentless in pursuit to go out there and win was very evident. Curt Schilling Jersey . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. 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A look inside some of the key statistics from both quarterbacks from Thursday nights AFC South showdown between the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints:To blitz or not to blitz? On third and 10 with 2:39 remaining and with only one timeout left, the Saints opted to send four pass rushers after Cam Newton, which gave him time to find Kelvin Benjamin for an 18-yard gain that allowed the Panthers to keep possession and drain the clock.Should the Saints have blitzed?Entering the game, the Panthers had converted at an above-average rate on third-down dropbacks when opponents blitzed, and were well below league average when not blitzed. They also far exceeded league average when blitzed needing 10-plus yards.Those trends were holding true Thursday prior to the fateful conversion. The Panthers had one conversion on six third-down dropbacks when not blitzed prior to the completion to Benjamin. They were 3-of-6 against the blitz, converting three of their last four.Newtons big throws dwarf overall inefficiency Cam Newton completed just 42.4 percent of his passes Thursday, his worst completion percentage in any win of his career.dddddddddddd Despite the low clip, Newton did make several big throws Thursday, completing 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) passes thrown 15-plus yards downfield -- including the big third-and-10 conversion in the fourth, and the long touchdown to Ted Ginn Jr. just before the end of the first half.Four of Newtons best five completion percentages 15-plus yards downfield have now occurred in Panthers wins this season.Too little, too late for Brees? Drew Brees average pass traveled 4.2 yards past the line of scrimmage Thursday, the third-shortest single-game average of his Saints career and his shortest since 2011.Brees threw a season-high 31 attempts within five yards of the line of scrimmage in the game, and potentially waited too long to start airing it out further.Why so many short passes?Brees was blitzed on only 13 percent of his dropbacks Thursday (6 of 47), the lowest blitz rate hes faced this season, which means he faced at least seven in coverage on 87 percent of his dropbacks. ' ' '