India falter after Kamal extends Pakistan’s lead
Asim Kamal, who made 99 on his Test debut before being mysteriously left out of the side, led a tremendous rearguard action as Pakistan batted themselves into a winning position at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. After Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji had sparked a middle-order collapse in the morning, Kamal’s sparkling 73 took Pakistan to 489 all out, a lead of 202. And just for good measure, Pakistan accounted for both Aakash Chopra and Rahul Dravid in the 20 minutes before tea to further tighten their grip.
Chopra was given out leg before to Shoaib Akhtar, and then Dravid was run out without facing a ball after Virender Sehwag – lucky to survive a leg-before shout from Mohammad Sami – called him through for a risky single. Imran Farhat’s throw from short cover was deadly accurate, with the third umpire confirming that Dravid had been a few inches short (15 for 2).
Earlier, Kamal had cautiously eased his way to 26 by lunch, but once Shoaib (19) was out – caught brilliantly by Yuvraj Singh at midwicket, off Anil Kumble’s bowling – he opened out with some stunning strokes. A full delivery from Pathan was sent skimming over the long-on boundary for six, and he then swept Kumble for four.
Umar Gul, Pakistan’s bowling hero, wasn’t idle either, twice square-driving Pathan in classy fashion, before pulling one behind square with a nonchalance that made you peer close to make sure that it wasn’t Viv Richards batting in disguise.
Gul and Kamal added 38 before Gul stepped onto his wicket in an attempt to pull Sachin Tendulkar for four more (470 for 9). But Kamal, who had motored past 50 almost unnoticed, wasn’t finished, slamming Kumble and Tendulkar for sixes over midwicket and long-on before an attempt at a reverse sweep against Kumble lobbed behind to Parthiv Patel. But by then, the job had been done, with the last three wickets adding 103.
The initial exchanges had been dominated by India. Pathan – whose first spell this morning produced figures of 7-3-11-3 – struck even before most of the sparse crowd had settled into their seats. Inzamam-ul-Haq hadn’t added to his 118 when Pathan got one to straighten and hit him in line with leg stump. And this time, Simon Taufel’s finger did go up (356 for 4).
Yousuf Youhana started brightly, with a cracking square-drive and sweetly timed off-drive off Balaji, but was then suckered into flailing at one that pitched on off stump and moved away. Patel – far more subdued this morning after being docked 60% of his match fee for excessive appealing – took the catch, and Pakistan were suddenly looking shaky at 366 for 5.
Kamran Akmal (5) didn’t steady the nerves either, trapped in front by a Pathan delivery that pitched on leg stump and would have gone on to hit middle (379 for 6). And when he bowled Sami (2) off the inside edge, India harboured visions of keeping the lead down to a little over 100. But Kamal had other ideas, and barring a Kolkata-type resurrection, the two teams will go to Rawalpindi locked at 1-1.
@ cricinfo - what a biased rat!
what a day for Pakistan:jhanda:–
