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| February 2, 2006 | Thursday | Muharram 3, 1427 |
Razzaq, Asif rout India as Pakistan clinch series
KARACHI, Feb 1: Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Asif inspired Pakistan to series victory after the hosts outclassed India by 341 runs in the decisive third Test at the National Stadium on Wednesday.
Despite Yuvraj Singh’s plucky century (a career-best 122 off 144 balls), India capitulated for 265 on the fourth day to give Pakistan their first series win in almost 19 years since Imran Khan’s side won the Bangalore Test by 16 runs.
Razzaq (four for 88) and Asif (three for 48) virtually repeated their first innings efforts.
Both finished up with seven wickets; Razzaq bagging seven for 155 and Asif seven for 126 in only his third Test.
Faced with the predicament of surviving a minimum 164 overs after Younis Khan, named Man-of-the-Series, declared his side’s second innings at 599 for seven, the Indians never threatened a mammoth target of 607 once Asif and Shoaib Akhtar broke through early.
Asif ripped apart the Indian top-order after Shoaib took care of Rahul Dravid with the fifth ball of the innings.
The Indian captain was adjudged caught behind by umpire Daryl Harper although TV replays proved inconclusive whether Dravid (2) got the edge.
Asif clean bowled Virender Sehwag (4) and Vangipurappu Laxman (21) in identical fashion; both lost their middle stump to leave India in tatters.
Sachin Tendulkar who was accorded a warm welcome in probably his final Test in this country weathered the initial onslaught from Shoaib, but after reaching 26, he was also removed by Asif with an in-cutter.
The situation demanded some sort of a fight from the Indians. And fight they did as Saurav Ganguly and the dominant Yuvraj batted their way through the afternoon session to put on 103 face-saving runs in 120 balls.
Yuvraj’s share in the partnership was 70 while Ganguly contributed 26 of those runs as India progressed to 177 for four at tea.
But everything came unstuck as Razzaq trapped Ganguly (37) first ball after the break.
Yuvraj mounted a one-man fight despite being dropped on 77 and 96 but Razzaq continued to make inroads with the scalps of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (18) and Irfan Pathan (4), both smartly picked in the slips off short-pitched deliveries.
Danish Kaneria, whose leg-spin was not utilized until the 24th over of the second innings, had Anil Kumble brilliantly taken at slip by Imran Farhat for four.
Zaheer Khan was Kaneria’s second victim, the ball ricocheting on the off-stump as the tailender went back to cut.
Appropriately, it was Razzaq who triggered the victory celebrations around the stadium when Yuvraj was undone by an awkward rising delivery that ballooned off his gloves to the wicket-keeper.
Yuvraj soldiered on for just over three hours for his second century in 13 Tests. His other three-figure score is 112, also against Pakistan in another lost cause at Lahore in 2003-04.
In all, the 24-year-old left-hander slammed 19 fours and one six in what collectively was the 15th century of this series and equalled the record for a three-match rubber.
Earlier, Pakistan plundered 88 runs in 57 minutes while two more records were trumped before the declaration arrived after 13.1 overs.
Faisal Iqbal (103) and Razzaq (44) converted their overnight partnership of 109 into a National Stadium sixth-wicket stand of 196 in 263 deliveries.
Saleem Malik and Wasim Raja held the previous record for this wicket here when they added an unbroken 178 against New Zealand in 1984-85.
Faisal departed for 139, having batted for 305 minutes and faced 240 balls while hitting 16 fours and one six in his maiden Test century. Razzaq fell 10 short of a fourth Test hundred.
But his 90 off 141 balls (including five fours and four sixes) ensured Pakistan set new world record of seven successive fifties in the same innings.
Pakistan’s victory is all the more extraordinary and will remain etched in the memory as their best because of the circumstances in which it was achieved.
Pakistan’s victory is moreover the biggest by runs margin, easily outstripping their previous best of 301 runs against Sri Lanka at Colombo’s Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1994.
Scoreboard
Pakistan (1st innings): 245 (Kamran Akmal 113; Irfan Pathan 5-61)
India (1st innings): 238 (Yuvraj Singh 45; Mohammad Asif 4-78)
Pakistan (2nd innings) (overnight 511-5):
Salman Butt lbw b Ganguly 53
Imran Farhat c Tendulkar b Pathan 57
Younis Khan lbw b Kumble 77
Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Kumble 97
Faisal Iqbal c Tendulkar b Zaheer 139
Shahid Afridi c Tendulkar b Singh 60
Abdul Razzaq c Yuvraj b Kumble 90
Kamran Akmal not out 0
Extras: (b7, lb7, nb11, w1, ) 26
Total: (seven wkts decl in 140.1 overs) 599
Fall of wkts: 1-109, 2-122, 3-280, 4-318, 5-402, 6-598, 7-599
Bowling: Pathan 25-3-106-1, Zaheer 28-4-103-1, Singh 24-1-115-1, Kumble 37.1-3-151-3, Ganguly 16-1-68-1, Sehwag 1-0-2-0, Tendulkar 9-0-40-0
India (2nd innings):
V. Sehwag b Asif 4
R. Dravid c Akmal b Akhtar 2
V. Laxman b Asif 21
S. Tendulkar b Asif 26
S. Ganguly lbw b Razzaq 37
Y. Singh c Akmal b Razzaq 122
M. Dhoni c Farhat b Razzaq 18
Irfan Pathan c Iqbal b Razzaq 4
A. Kumble c Farhat b Kaneria 5
Zaheer Khan b Kaneria 10
R. Singh not out 0
Extras: (b7, nb4, w5) 16
Total (all out in 58.4 overs) 265
Fall of wkts: 1-8, 2-8, 3-63, 4-74, 5-177, 6-208, 7-216, 8-231, 9-251
Bowling: Akhtar 8-1-37-1, Asif 12-1-48-3, Razzaq 18.4-0-88-4, Kaneria 18-0-75-2, Afridi 2-0-10-0.
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