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Pakistan in India 2004-05: Pakistan Vs India -
1st Test at Mohali - Day 2 |
Report by Karthik Narayan
March 9th 2005:
Pakistan 312
(Kamal 91
Inzamam 57 Balaji 5/76)
lead India 184/1 (Sehwag 95* Gambhir
41 Dravid 39*) by 128 runs
Full Scorecard
Play on day two was marred by drizzling in
most of the morning, and two sessions were lost
to rain. After a couple of inspections by the
ground umpires, play was called and India
started their first in innings batting at around
14.20 IST. Sehwag wasted no time in dispatching
Naved-ul-Hasan to the fence in his very first
over. He was dropped by Umar at 2nd Slip early
on, but he put it behind him and smashed all the
bowlers. At the other end, Gambhir softly played
himself in and by the end of the tea break,
India was 67/0.
The post tea session saw Sehwag and Gambhir play
their shots. Sehwag completed his 9th
half-century at over a run a ball, and runs came
in boundaries. It was vintage and advantage
India to have wrested the initiative and also
score runs at a fast clip without losing a
wicket in the first session. The fifty came in
just the 9th over and by the 10th over, Inzamam
brought in Razzaq and Kaneria to save face for
his new ball bowlers!
After a flying century opening partnership,
eventually the first wicket fell with Gambhir
falling to a loose shot off Kaneria who struck
in his very second over! But, Dravid and Sehwag
made sure all apprehensions of the pitch
conditions and the fears of the Pakistani
speedsters were thrown out the window. Sehwag in
particular turned on the heat with some sizzling
strikes. Except for the odd glitch, Sehwag took
control for the entire day. Sehwag was dropped
twice on 15 and 82 in his blitzkrieg innings
where he forgot if it was a limited overs game
or a test match! Dravid gave him good company to
see off any sort of evils from the Pakistani
bowlers.
With still around a dozen overs left to be
bowled, bad light prevailed and the light was
offered to the Indian batsmen. The offer was
accepted and the players walked back to the
dressing room.
India has captured both the first two days of
this test match, and with wickets in hand, India
looks like it shall register a huge lead against
its archrival – provided the Weather Gods do not
get angry!
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