Pakistan face stiff task despite Afridi’s rapid 59
By Imran Naeem Ahmad
KOLKATA, March 19: Pakistan, given a mountain to scale to win the second cricket Test, were off to an unusually good start on day four that silenced an estimated 55,000 fans at the Eden Gardens on Saturday as Shahid Afridi blazed his way to cracking half century.
Chasing 422 for victory with a full day’s play remaining Pakistan had raced to 95 for one in 20 overs by the close, needing another 327 runs for victory but had lost Afridi for 59, shortly before play ended for the day.
That might have given India an advantage going into the final day and considering the Pakistani batsmen’s tendency to collapse under pressure.
And then as the spectators left and the lights at the stadium were switched off, it began to rain. After four days of sunshine and fluctuating fortunes, what could be in store?
Afridi gave a glimpse of what his team’s intentions were as Pakistan began what will be a world record chase if they are able to achieve that.
An electrifying display by the hard-hitting batsman left the fans mum after he fired nine boundaries and struck a six each to off spinner Harbhajan Singh and seamer Irfan Pathan.
“We are very much in the match and if we can bat through the first session, then we can go all the way to the target,” Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq said.
Together with Taufiq Umar, unbeaten on 29 at the close and Younis Khan yet to score, the two shared an opening stand of 95, Pakistan’s biggest for this wicket in the three-match series.
As shadows grew longer, Afridi became a wee bit more adventurous and in a bid to sweep one from leg spinner Anil Kumble, gave rival captain Saurav Ganguly an easy catch at short leg. That left Indian century-maker Rahul Dravid delighted. “We made him play the shot we had wanted and it was nice to see his back.”
Dravid, the Great Wall of India was the tormentor-in-chief for Pakistan when play began on Saturday and not much seemed to go right for the touring team. The delightful batsman followed up his first innings 110 with another masterly 135 and along with Kaarthick’s career-best 93, helped his team gain a lead of 421.
The high octane innings by the two batsmen powered India to 407 for nine declared after they had begun the day at the overnight score of 133 for three.
A fifth wicket partnership that produced 167 runs was the striking feature of the Indian innings with Dravid reaching his 20th Test century after lunch, blunting a Pakistan attack in which the seamers and the spinners all got harshly treated.
In as ruthless a mood as he was in the first innings, Dravid was poetry in motion, playing his shots with clinical precision achieving the feat of scoring a century in both innings for the second time in his illustrious career after his scores of 190 and 103 at Hamilton in 1998-99.
It was the sixth time that an Indian had scored a century in each innings with Sunil Gavaskar achieving the feat thrice, Vijay Hazare once and Dravid doing it a second time on Saturday.
Dravid’s 20th hundred in his 88th Test was his third against Pakistan and closed when he mistimed a delivery from leg spinner Danish Kaneria in the 91st over and Asim Kamal took a catch at long off. Soon Karthik, who surpassed his previous best score of 46, was dismissed too with the India having reached 331 for six off the last ball before tea.
Playing in a pressure situation, the batsman from Chennai, was quite impressive too and struck 19 fours before falling in an attempt to sweep Kaneria in the 93rd over. Once Dravid and Karthik were out, the remaining wickets fell cheaply although Irfan Pathan and Kumble boosted the score further with some late blows.
Irfan hit three fours and two sixes in his 38 while Kumble had three boundaries in scoring 14 runs. Both remained not out when the declaration came 55 minutes after tea.
Dravid and Karthik had helped India extend their lead to 229 by lunch and clearly looked well set to do even more.
The home team were 215 for four at the break with Dravid (89), closing in on his century and Kaarthick batting on 31 after Sami had snapped up the wicket of captain Saurav Ganguly in the morning.
Trying to pull, Ganguly provided a top edge to Sami who sprinted yards away from the bowling crease to take a fine catch, the skipper playing in front of his hometown fans managing only 12 and has now gone 12 Tests without getting a hundred.
Sami, who had figures of 3-82 then inflicted a nasty blow to VVS Laxman, a rising delivery in the 44th over hitting him hard on the visor and he ended up with a swollen left eye. The batsman had to retire because of the injury but returned to score 24. Kaneria and Razzaq also picked up three wickets each.
The target for Pakistan is surely difficult but the first session on Sunday will be vital. Only West Indies, India and Australia boast of reaching 400-plus targets in the history of the game.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings) 407 (R. Dravid 110, V. Sehwag 81, S.R. Tendulkar 52).
V. Sehwa b Sami 15
G. Gambhir b Sami 1
R. Dravid c Asim b Kaneria 135
S.R. Tendulkar c Kamran b Razzaq 52
S.C. Ganguly c and b Sami 12
V.V.S. Laxman st Kamran b Kaneria 24
K.K.D. Karthik b Kaneria 93
Irfan Pathan not out 38
Harbhajan Singh b Razzaq 0
L. Balaji c Kamran b Razzaq 0
A. Kumble not out 14
EXTRAS (B-5, LB-5, W-1, NB-12) 23
TOTAL (for nine decl, 104 overs) 407
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14 2-23 3-121 4-154 5-321 6-331 7-377 8-378 9-378
BOWLING: Mohammad Khalil 12-0-64-0 (1nb, 1w); Mohammad Sami 23-5-82-3 (6nb);
