March, 29 2005	Tuesday	18 Safar 1426

BANGALORE, March 28: Captain Inzamamul Haq was walking tall on Monday after his modest attack ripped the heart out of the highly-rated Indian batting to pull off a memorable 168-run victory on the last day of the third Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

An attack that pundits said just did not have the firepower to bowl out India twice, rose to the occasion to send the home team crashing to 214 all out with only six overs remaining as the three-match series ended all square 1-1.

For Inzamam, it was a wish fulfilled, a dream come true. A victory that he had so desperately wanted in his 100th Test, came about through a remarkable team-effort and his intelligent captaincy.

After India began the day at 25-0, requiring another 358 runs for victory, things did not quite go Pakistan’s way and for them, there was only limited success in the first session that came in the shape of Virender Sehwag’s wicket.

But then after India had inched to 102 for one by lunch, events took a dramatic turn that saw the hosts slump to 135 for five in the second session in which only 38 runs could be added.

“The match did not seem to be going our way at lunch but I was surprised the way the Indian batting went defensive after the break,” said Inzamam under whom Pakistan had lost to India at home 2-1 last year. “The victory today will do a world of good to our cricket.”

Opener Ghautam Ghambir, who scored 52 was dispatched in the second over after lunch, paceman Muhammad Sami trapping him in front of the wicket. And soon India’s great Wall, Rahul Dravid was brought down by off spinner Arshad Khan, playing his first Test of the series.

He had the India’s most reliable batsman caught at silly point by Younis Khan after scoring 16 runs.

Troubled loomed for the Indians when Shahid Afridi, a stand-out in the attack with figures of 17-7-13-3, inflicted two telling blows by picking up the scalps of VVS Laxman and captain Saurav Ganguly, whose poor run with the bat continued.

Laxman was adjudged lbw and then Ganguly was surprised by a sharp one. He could not understand what had happened behind him and stuck to his crease for a good while. “I thought the ball had richocheted off the keeper’s pads and hit the stumps,” he said later. But the fact of the matter was that the delivery had beaten the captain’s drive.

As Ganguly left, much depended on Sachin Tendulkar who was troubled by Sami. He stayed at the crease for 140 minutes and could contribute only 16 runs and in the process erased countryman Sunil Gavaskar’s record of 10122 runs to become India’s leading scorer in Tests.

But that record in no way helped India’s cause and his departure after tea spelt doom for India and it was Afridi again who did the needful. Afridi had Tendulkar caught at short leg by Asim Kamal, who made up for a dropped catch off Muhammad Sami when Tendulkar was 11 and would have had to rue it if Pakistan had not won the match. This was the third time consecutive time that Afridi had dismissed the master batsman.

With India 164 for seven and the shadows lengthening, Pakistan pushed hard for victory and except for a brief resistance by the tail in which Anil Kumble scored and undefeated 37, soon got there when Laxmipathy Balaji offered no stroke to Danish Kaneria to be adjudged lbw.

Arshad had a remarkable day and his figures of 14-8-21-2 show what a great effort he made. Kaneria had 2-46 while Sami captured 2-84. It was indeed a brilliant performance by the bowlers who had been criticized all through the series for not being effective. And in the end they came good just when it mattered the most.

Earlier when play began, Pakistan thought they had been deprived of a good chance to put India under early pressure after opener Ghambir was given a life by umpire Simon Taufel. Television replays showed he had edged a ball from Razzaq to wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal with the hosts yet to open their account for the day.

Then a loud shout for a caught behind of Sehwag off a Sami delivery soon afterwards saw umpire B. Bowden unmoved - clearly there had been no contact between bat and ball. The decisions though left Inzamam visibily upset.

Luck however smiled on him when the dangerous Sehwag, who had put on 87 runs for the first wicket with Ghutam, was run out for 38 following a mix-up in the 24th over.

Responding to a call from Ghambir, he raced out of his crease only to be told to go back but could not make it as Razzaq was bang on target with a fine throw from mid-on, gaining revenge on the batsman who had earlier struck him for four boundaries off four balls.

The top scalp of the man whose flashing blade had produced 201 runs in India’s first innings, brought some cheer to the Pakistan camp. However, Dravid (6) and Ghambir then ensured no more wickets fell before lunch.

 

Scoreboard
PAKISTAN (1st Innings 570 (Younis Khan 267, Inzamamul Haq 184; Harbhajan Singh 6-152).
INDIA (1st Innings) 449 (V. Sehwag 201, V.V.S. Laxman 79 not out; Danish Kaneria 5-127).
PAKISTAN (2nd Innings) 261-2 declared (Younis Khan 84 not out, Yasir Hameed 76, Shahid Afridi 58).
INDIA (2nd Innings, overnight 25-0):
G. Gambhir lbw b Sami	52
V. Sehwag run out	38
R. Dravid c Younis b Arshad	16
S.R. Tendulkar c Asim b Afridi	16
V.V.S. Laxman lbw b Afridi	5
S.C. Ganguly b Afridi	2
K.K.D. Karthik b Sami	9
A. Kumble not out	37
Irfan Pathan c Youhana b Arshad	0
Harbhajan Singh c Younis b Kaneria	8
L. Balaji lbw b Kaneria	0
EXTRAS (B-8, LB-8, W-10, NB-5)	31
TOTAL (all out, 89.5 overs)	214
FALL OF WKTS: 1-87, 2-108, 3-118, 4-127, 5-135, 6-164, 7-164, 8-189, 9-210.
BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 21-5-84-2 (5nb, 10w); Abdul Razzaq 13-3-34-0; Danish Kaneria 24.5-10-46-2; Shahid Afridi 17-7-13-3; Arshad Khan 14-8-21-2.
UMPIRES: B.F. Bowden (New Zealand) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: I. Sivaram (India).
MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Younis Khan.
MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Virender Sehwag.
FIRST TEST: Mohali, match drawn.
SECOND TEST: Kolkata, India won by 195 runs.

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