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| November 13, 2006 | Monday | Shawwal 20, 1427 |
Yousuf slams fluent century as Pakistan take control
LAHORE, Nov 12: Mohammad Yousuf continued his dream run in 2006 as Pakistan wriggled their way out of a tight corner to seize control against West Indies on the second day of the first Test at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday.
Yousuf, Test cricket’s top batsman in terms of statistics this year, brought up his 20th century – the sixth in nine Tests in 2006 and the fourth in six Tests against West Indies – on a day of lost opportunities for Brian Lara’s charges.
Pakistan, currently 59 ahead on the first innings at 265 for 4, owe this position to the extraordinary form of Yousuf who rode his luck to finish the day on 107 while sharing a record fifth-wicket partnership against West Indies with Shoaib Malik (61).
Shoaib, returning to the Test arena after missing the England series, ensured his comeback was rock-solid at a time West Indies had clawed their way into the match with successive dismissals of Mohammad Hafeez and Inzamam-ul-Haq after Younis Khan had departed early in the day.
The Yousuf-Shoaib alliance not only survived the day but also earned Pakistan psychological points to put West Indies under pressure in the second innings.
The three-hour resistance between the two players bettered the previous Pakistan’s best fifth-wicket stand against West Indies - the 115 put on by Shahid Afridi and Asim Kamal at Bridgetown last year.
Yousuf’s profound affection for Gaddafi Stadium is nothing new. His Bradmanesque achievements on this batting heaven have already fetched him over 800 runs in nine Tests with four hundreds. This time he notched up another century (third in successive innings, following 223 against England and 173 versus India last winter), reaching the landmark in four-hand-a-half hours by flicking Jerome Taylor to the fine-leg boundary.
Even dropped catches and an umpiring gaffe were not to distract Yousuf. On 43, Daren Ganga should have held him in the gully off Jerome Taylor.
On another occasion, Dave Mohammed was denied Yousuf’s prized scalp when he was batting on 53 and should have been given out after TV replays confirmed that batsman’s back foot was on the popping crease as Denesh Ramdin whipped off the bails. But Ashoka de Silva didn’t bother to refer the West Indian appeal to TV umpire Nadeem Ghauri.
It was tough going for pace trio of Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore on a heartbreaking pitch which drew criticism from Yousuf himself.
The second new ball, taken at the start of a curtailed post-tea session, did raise faint hopes in the West Indies camp, but Taylor failed in his attempt to hold a Yousuf top-edge skier on follow-through soon after the batsman had reached three figures.
Hafeez, another man on the comeback trail, continued his rehabilitation which began with 95 in the infamous Oval Test last August. Pakistan’s woes over finding a reliable pair of openers will be considerably reduced if Hafeez carries on in the same vein.
He looked good during his 147-ball 57 (six fours)and partnered Yousuf in adding 88 for the third wicket before Taylor nipped one back sharply to have him leg-before.
Skipper Inzamam, who lasted just eight balls, is becoming prone to getting out in hilarious fashion. The way he got himself in a tangle when Monty Panesar dismissed him hit-wicket at Old Trafford last August is still fresh in the minds of cricket fans.
On Sunday, Inzamam was bamboozled by Dave Mohammed’s chinaman; getting yorked after being deceived in the air by the bowler who cleverly bowled almost from the return crease.
But Yousuf, who has been at the crease for exactly five hours with 14 hits to the fence, dominated the proceedings while relegating ex-captain Saleem Malik (5768 runs in 103) into fourth place among Pakistan’s top run-getters. Shoaib’s watchful innings includes seven fours and his partnership with Yousuf has so far been worth 125 precious runs to Pakistan.
As was the case on Saturday, the umpires intervened to stop the game as the natural light started to deteriorate around 4.00pm. Despite the use of floodlights a total 38 overs have been lost so far, 21 of them on Sunday. It was indeed sad to see for a holiday crowd, in excess of 10,000, being asked to head home early.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES 1st innings 206 (B.C Lara 61; Umar Gul 5-65, Shahid Nazir 3-42)
PAKISTAN 1st innings (overnight 39-1)
Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Taylor 57
Imran Farhat lbw b Taylor 9
Younis Khan c Sarwan b Edwards 11
Mohammad Yousuf not out 107
Inzamam-ul-Haq b Mohammed 0
Shoaib Malik not out 61
EXTRAS: (B-4, LB-4, NB-6, W-6) 20
TOTAL: (for 4 wkts, 91 overs) 265
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16, 2-45, 3-133, 4-140.
BOWLING: Edwards 17-1-64-1, Taylor 24-5-67-2, Collymore 16-4-34-0, Bravo 14-2-41-0, Mohammed 12-2-31-1, Gayle 7-2-18-0, Sarwan 1-0-2-0
UMPIRES: Simon Taufel (AUS), Asoka de Silva (SRI)
TV UMPIRE: Nadeem Ghouri (PAK)
MATCH REFEREE: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)
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