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Pakistan in India 2004-05: Pakistan Vs India -
2nd Test at Kolkata |
Report by Karthik Narayan
March 20th 2005:
Ind 407 &
407/9 dec defeated
Pak 393 & 226
(Afridi
59 Kamal 50, Kumble 7/63)
by 195 runs
Full Scorecard
Day 5 held in store a lot of surprises and
excitement for everybody – India scented a win
if they could get early wickets of the Biggies
of Pakistan. The other way around – Pakistan
could pull off a draw if one or two of their big
guns played the way the Indians had batted on
day 4. A Sunday drew a full house at the Eden
Gardens to witness this great day of cricket.
The entire stadium erupted with Kumble taking a
wicket of the first ball of the day. Action
started on the very first ball of the day when
Kumble pulled a super trick out of the hat – a
smart leg side stumping by the young confident
rookie Dinesh Karthik meant the exit of Younis
Khan.
Umar and Inzamam gave some resistance – but
Inzamam was out to Kumble when the defensive
shot bounced back to dislodge the bails. Balaji
induced an edge from the bat of Umer and that
was the end of the top 4 of Pakistani lineup.
Youhana and Kamal did not mesmerize enough as
Kumble bowled ever so beautifully with the zest
and energy. With every over, he got an extra
spring in his step. He bowled fantastically –
varying his pace and mixing the deliveries the
flighted ones with the wrong un’, and in between
the fastish leg break. Youhana was the next to
go as Kumble induced a thin edge of Youhana’s
bat which rolled onto his pad and went into
Gambhir’s safe hands at forward short leg.
Razzaq came in next and hit a six of Kumble, but
that didn’t put Kumble in any pressure. His ball
to Razzaq to get him clean bowled was a delight
to watch – it uprooted the stumps right from
underneath Razzaq!
Asim Kamal was the only Pakistani to offer
some resistance – he played a wonderful knock
with some resilience and fine shots. He also
fell to Kumble, with Kaif who was substituting
for Laxman took a sharp catch at forward short
leg. When they went to tea, the Indians had
become the masters of this game – with eight
wickets in their belt, and with just 2 more to
go, it was a matter of time.
The very first ball after tea, Kumble struck
again with a quick ball – Sami was caught plumb
in front and the dreaded finger went up. Indians
were so close to their first ever win against
Pakistan in Kolkata. Then it was a matter of
minutes when the last pair would give away.
Harbhajan did the honors for India when he
signaled the win for India – the last wicket to
fall was Danish Kaneria. The quicker ball by
Harbhajan and India had won by 195 runs!
This was a truly amazing display of bowing by
Kumble. He stuck to the basics attacked the
stumps all day and never gave the batsmen any
room or chance to relax. That was the secret of
his success today. Overall he has once again
proved that he is a match winner. He ended with
7 wickets in this innings and yet another match
haul of ten wickets. This was also the best
bowling performance for him at this ground.
Rahul Dravid for his heroics in both the innings
was adjudged the man of the match.
India now leads this 3 test series 1-0 with a
test to play at Bangalore which starts on the
24th of March.
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