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| January 16, 2006 | Monday | Zilhaj 15, 1426 |
Weather curtails play on crucial third day
LAHORE, Jan 15: Weather played the role of villain in the first cricket Test on Sunday as only 73 minutes of play was possible on the crucial third day at the Qadhafi Stadium. During that brief period, India added 80 in 15 overs to their overnight score of 65 without losing any wicket.
So far almost an entire day’s play has been wiped out due to bad light. A total of 24 overs were lost on the first two days, including 19 on Saturday.
Even in the truncated day’s play umpires twice offered light options to the Indian batsmen who had no hesitation in returning to the cosy environs of the dressing room.
The light was certainly poor and intermittent light drizzle during the day also made matters worse and played part in finally forcing umpires to abandon day’s play 13 minutes after lunch break.
Opener Sehwag showing glimpses of form that brought him a bagful of runs including a triple century at Multan Test when Indians crossed the border last time needs another four runs to compile a faultless century.
The pugnacious batsman countered 89 deliveries for his runs and had so far smashed 20 boundaries. Skipper Rahul Dravid playing second fiddle to his opening partner was unbeaten at 37.
With only two days remaining and rains and cloudy atmosphere predicted for Monday, Pakistan will find it mighty difficult to eke out a result on a strip that experts described as ‘graveyard’ for the bowlers.
The visitors are 534 runs behind Pakistan’s huge first innings total of 679 for seven wickets declared and still need 335 to save the follow-on.
However, the manner in which Sehwag and Dravid had tackled Pakistan’s bowlers it is not an impossible task although an inspired spell from someone as destructive as Shoaib Akhtar or the wily Danish Kaneria could make life difficult for the Indians weather permitting.
Sehwag was in his true elements in helping the tourists matching home’s team run rate scoring at a rapid pace of over five runs an over.
If Sehwag goes on to complete his century, a very likely scenario, he will be the third batsman to reach the coveted figure in the match to score more than run-a-ball hundred which must be a record in the annals of Test cricket. Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal hammered centuries of 80 and 81 balls on Saturday.
Bearing in mind the vagaries of weather in this part of the country in winter it makes one wonder why the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided to play first Test here and the second Test in Faisalabad starting there from Jan 21.
Pundits predict a similar fate destined for the second Test. It would have been much better had the PCB rescheduled the tour a couple of weeks later and played the first Test in Karachi, allowing Lahore and Faisalabad to stage matches in the last week of January or first week of February.
Almost all former Test stars and even some of the current players too agreed that it was unwise to hold Test matches in Punjab due to possibility of rain, fog and overcast conditions.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 679-7 declared (Younis Khan 199, Mohammad Yousuf 173, Shahid Afridi 103, Kamran Akmal not out 102, Shoaib Malik 59).
INDIA (1st Innings, overnight 65-0):
V. Sehwag not out 96
R. Dravid not out 37
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-2, NB-5) 12
TOTAL (for no wkt, 28 overs) 145
TO BAT: V.V.S. Laxman, S.R. Tendulkar, S.C. Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, A.B. Agarkar, A. Kumble, Harbhajan Singh.
BOWLING (to-date): Shoaib Akhtar 10-4-34-0 (2nb, 1w); Rana Navedul Hasan 9-0-54-0 (1w); Shahid Afridi 2-0-12-0 (1nb); Mohammad Sami 5-0-33-0 (1nb); Danish Kaneria 2-0-7-0 (1nb).
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