The game sprung into life 10 minutes before the interval when Ballack's header was cleared off the line by Kranjcar, while at the other end Portsmouth were unlucky not be given a penalty when Juliano Belletti appeared to handle Baros' attempted flick in the area.
Whether the cause was childhood infection, difficult childbirth, heart attack, or pneumonia, the interval between recognizing that you had a life-threatening ailment and death was often just a matter of days or weeks.
India resumed after the interval on 41-2 from 17 overs and they found life slightly easier with the pitch holding as well as could be expected given the widening cracks on offer.