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India in driver's seat

Wednesday, March 31 2004

Requiring 476 to avoid a follow-on, Pakistan sunk to 364 for 6, thus putting themselves in a dangerous situation and India in a comfortable position, at the end of Day 3 of the 1st Test in Multan.

Resuming at 42/0, Pakistani openers adopted a cautious approach against a determined pace trio of Irfan Pathan, L. Balaji and Zaheer Khan. Despite the placid, non-responsive track and unfavoring conditions, the pacemen bowled with venom, making the batsmen work for their runs, quite contrary to what the opposition bowlers did on the first two days.

Pathan struck the first blow for India when he had Taufeeq Umar (23) pushing forward to a delivery that moved away from the bat, thus edging to stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid in the slips. Five overs later, Balaji got in the act too, trapping Imran Farhat (38) in front of the wickets, off a delivery that pitched on the leg stump and swung to hit the batsman in line with middle stump. Pakistan were now in trouble with the score reading 73/2.

This brought Inzamam-ul-Haq out to the crease, with Yasir Hameed at the other end, arguably the two best batsmen in the squad, consdering recent form. The two batsmen struck up a vital 160-run partnership for the third wicket, both showing accurate fluency, using pushes and flicks to find gaps in the field.

The partnership came to an end finally, though not as a result of misendeavours from the pitch or exceptional delivery from the bowler, but an error on the part of Australian umpire Simon Taufel. Inzamam (77) was adjudged caught off Anil Kumble at short leg when replays showed that Inzamam's bat was no where near the ball, and the ball had come off his pad.

Pathan was rewarded a second time, this with the older ball, when he had Hameed (91) edge behind nine short of what would have been a well-deserved century, his third in Test cricket. But it wasn't to be.

Pakistan went to tea at 252/4, looking down the barrel, and having bleak chances of avoiding the follow-on. After tea, Pathan and Zaheer lost control of the new ball, with which they were too wayward, thus allowing an out-of-form Yousuf Youhana to be distinctly watchable. Despite the not-so-good use of the new ball, it was only a matter of time before Youhana fell, for he didn't look all too comfortable in the middle.

Youhana (37) was put out of the discomfort, though maybe unluckily, when he was given out caught behind with the ball going down the leg side to Parthiv Patel. Replays didn't reveal if he had knicked the ball or not, but he was visibly upset with the decision, again by Simon Taufel.

Razzaq survived a sharp chance at short leg on 39 and increased the tempo along with Moin Kahn, as conditions again began to favor the batsmen, Pakistan lookin hopeful of getting close to 476. However, off the final ball of the day, by Sachin Tendulkar, with the score on 364, Moin was made to look foolish, as he was bowled between the legs off a googly. This left Pakistan six down, with a major task ahead tomorrow morning.

Score Summary:

India (1st Innings): 675 for 5 declared in 161.5 overs. (Virender Sehwag 309, Sachin Tendulkar 194*, Mohammed Sami 110/2, Imran Farhat 31/2)

Pakistan (1st Innings): 364 for 6 in 106 overs. (Yasir Hameed 91, Inzamam-ul-Haq 77, Irfan Pathan 87/2)

Pakistan trail by 311 runs, and require 112 more runs to avoid follow-on.

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Posted by Sudeep