04 March 2005	Friday	22 Muharram 1426

DHARAMSALA, March 3: Pakistan floundered at the start of their first Test tour of India for six years, reaching 165 for five wickets on the rain-hit opening day against an Indian Board President's XI on Thursday.

Almost four hours of play were lost to bad light and drizzle at this northern hilly venue to frustrate Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq after he won the toss and chose to bat.

Pakistan's top order batsmen were soon in trouble against a set of Indian pace hopefuls, slumping to 83 for four on a flat pitch in the three-day match. Inzamam, who turned 35 on Thursday, was among those who squandered a good start, trapped leg before for 35 trying to sweep part-time off spinner Venugopal Rao.

At the close, left-hander Asim Kamal was 43 not out with all-rounder Abdul Razzaq on two. After barely two overs could be bowled in the morning, left-handed openers Taufiq Umar (37) and Salman Butt (21) put on 53 runs when play resumed.

Butt was narrowly run out in search of a non-existent second run and vice-captain Younis Khan followed for a first-ball duck in the next over, edging pace man Gagandeep Singh to second slip.

The experienced Yousuf Youhana joined Umar to help Pakistan reach 83 for two at tea, before both fell soon after the break. Youhana edged a drive against pace man Shib Shankar Paul behind the stumps and Umar was out in the next over, caught bat-pad at forward short leg off young left-arm pace man Rudrapratap Singh.

Inzamam and Kamal added 72 runs for the fifth wicket before the captain was out. Kamal held firm, pulling and cutting with assurance on the slow pitch for most of his eight fours.

SCOREBOARD



Pakistan (1st innings):



S.Butt run out                             21



T.Umar c Kaif b Rudrapratap Singh          37



Y.Khan c Jadhav b Gagandeep Singh          0



Y.Youhana c P.Patel b Paul                 18



I.Haq lbw b V.Rao                          35



A.Kamal not out                            43



A.Razzaq not out                           2



Extras (b 5 lb 2 nb-2)                     9



Total (five wkts, 45 overs)                165



To bat: Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria, Rana Naved



Fall of wkts: 1-54 2-55 3-83 4-83 5-155.



Bowling (to date): R.P.Singh 13-3-50-1, Gagandeep Singh 15-3-40-1, 
Powar 4-0-22-0 (nb-1), Paul 8-2-23-1 (nb-1), Rao 5-0-23-1.



Board President's XI: Mohammad Kaif (captain), Dheeraj Jadhav, Satyajit Parab, 
Neeraj Patel, Venugopal Rao, Parthiv Patel (wk), Suresh Raina, Ramesh Powar, 
Rudrapratap Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Shib Shankar Paul. -Reuters