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Pakistan in India 2004-05: Pakistan Vs India -
3rd Test at Bangalore - Day 2 |
Report by Karthik Narayan
March 25th, 2005:
Ind
55/0
(Gambhir
13* Sehwag 39*) trail
Pak 570
(Y Khan
267 Inzamam 184, H Singh 6/152) by 515
runs
Full
Scorecard
Action started right away on Day 2 of the
final test of this engrossing series with Younis
Khan thrashing Irfan Pathan for 2 boundaries in
the first over. After putting up 344 massive
runs for the third wicket, finally sunlight
shined for India – once again it was Balaji –
and once again in his very first over (to remind
the readers, on day 1, with his first delivery
of the day/match, he plucked the first wicket of
the day, Afridi) bowled a beautiful delivery
which held it’s line to fool the batsman.
Inzamam was trapped leg before wicket and
Indians finally had a reason to smile again.
Youhana after a brief cameo (37 off 57) at
the crease was taken care of by the offie –
Harbhajan. Youhana tried to square cut Harbhajan,
but it resulted in only a nick, which was well
caught by Dinesh Karthik. Harbhajan was finally
rewarded with a wicket in his 24th over and this
was also the first wicket taken by a spinner in
this Test.
But then, Younis Khan continued his resolute
knock – going past the 150 mark for the second
time in his career (earlier was against West
Indies at Sharjah). Soon after lunch, Harbhajan
struck with the wicket of Asim Kamal. Kamal
seemed to struggle for around 6 overs, and
finally Harbhajan’s persistence was rewarded –
Kamal’s sweep took the top edge and Ganguly
completed the formalities of taking the catch at
short fine leg to send off the left hander. The
score was 428/5 at the fall of that wicket.
Razzaq played and consumed 36 balls for a
meek 5 runs before he was also dismissed by
Harbhajan Singh – the offie gleefully accepting
the return catch. Harbhajan was on fire here,
this being one of his favorite grounds (He also
holds the record for the best match figures on
this ground in Tests). He bowled with great
imagination and it was clearly evident that he
had put away all the talk about his “bowling
action”. It was very heartening to see him in
the magic zone yet again.
Younis Khan decided he wanted a very colorful
holi and his shots bound the audience and the
Indian bowlers were in a tizzy to find ways of
containing him! His first double century of his
career came about – and it was party time in the
Pakistani camp. His innings along with Inzamam’s
glittering innings had set up the neat Pakistani
beano. He also went past his highest First Class
score of 221.
With the tea interval was around the corner
and the 500 just up, Kamran Akmal, after playing
himself in nicely missed a cut shot at a sharp
Harbhajan Singh ball, the ball turning from
outside off stump to topple the leg stump. Sami
consumed much time and deliveries to give
company to Khan and help him past the 250 run
mark. He succumbed to a bad call for a run and
ran himself out.
The rest of the Pakistani tail had little
comfort batting and it resulted in a flurry of
wickets at the end. Younis on 267, after a
magnificent, marathon innings of nearly two full
days and 504 balls at the crease finally fell -
once again, the Turbanator proved to be a
handful on this track. He ended up with six
wickets after bowling down nearly 52 overs!
Kumble, the other spinner did not get any
wickets at all. Harbhajan is now one short of
200 test wickets.
Pakistan finished with a super score of 570
all out. India was sent to bat around 10 overs
left in the day. Sehwag started in his typical
mode – which is bang-bang. India comfortably
played the overs to stumps on day two. Sehwag
and Gambhir remained unbeaten. Sehwag in
particular played a stellar innings – bedecked
with a massive sixer off Kaneria’s first over.
Truly, Pakistan clearly lost the initiative
seized on day one – and failed to score runs
quickly today. Time factor shall come into play
unless they strike Indian wickets at regular
intervals. This pitch is a featherbed and
batting shall be easy, for Pakistan to win this
match; they will have to fight really hard in
the next 3 days.
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