November 24, 2007	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 13, 1428

NEW DELHI, Nov 23: A crucial fifth-wicket century stand between V.V.S. Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted India to a respectable 228-6 besides preventing Pakistan from gaining the upper hand in the first Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground here on Friday.

Thanks to the heroics of Dhoni and Laxman, India now trail the tourists by mere three runs after Pakistan were dismissed for 231 in their first innings earlier in the morning.

Pakistan’s inability to quickly dismiss the Indian pair on a pitch that is clearly showing varied bounce now have put them in a situation from where they have to play exceptionally well to win here.

Laxman (57 off 107 balls in 172 minutes, seven fours) and Indian captain Anil Kumble (7) were unbeaten at the crease when the play ended early almost 14 overs before time due to fading light.

Laxman and Dhoni, who has undoubtedly gained the status of a cult figure in India already, came together to stem the rot after Pakistan pacers had pressed home the advantage by reducing India to 93 for five midway through the second afternoon.

Opener Wasim Jaffer should have been back in the hut in the very first over of the innings but umpire Billy Doctrove refused to budge to a vociferous lbw shout when a Shoaib Akhtar delivery beat the opener for pace as he shuffled across the stumps.

Shoaib, however, struck in his third over by having Dinesh Karthik nibbling an away swinger to Kamran Akmal for 9.

Dravid, invigorated after being overlooked for the one-day series, creamed three excellent boundaries in four balls off Sohail Tanvir who conceded 27 runs in four overs after starting his Test career with a maiden.

India went to lunch at 46 for one. Pakistanis, however, fought their way back into the match with two wickets in the same Shoaib Akhtar over, who switched ends.

Jaffer, who struck six fours in his 32, found himself trapped in front as he moved across to play a fast incoming delivery and two balls later little master Sachin Tendulkar was run out by a Yousuf throw as Kamran dislodged the bails to find the great man inches away from the crease. It was quite an anti-climax for the 25,000 crowd which had profusely greeted Tendulkar as he arrived to the crease.

Young Sohail Tanvir kept Pakistan’s momentum going when the left-armer got rid of Dravid and Saurav Ganguly in successive overs on superb deliveries while bowling from the Tata End.

Ganguly got an inside edge to a sharp, slanting delivery into the left-hander while Dravid’s 73-ball innings was terminated when he played down the wrong line and lost his off stump.

Dravid’s prized scalp was the fourth Indian wicket to fall within 22 runs and 38 balls.

Soon afterwards, Mohammad Sami who bowled incisively, was extremely unlucky not to have picked up Laxman very early as the prolific player prodded shakily to an in-swinging ball. Only a big inside edge saved the Indian from being adjudged plumb leg-before-wicket.

But Dhoni’s audacious approach and the elegance of Laxman lifted the Indian total to 208 before Pakistan earned the much-needed wicket to leave the Test tantalisingly poised at the conclusion of another fluctuating day’s play.

The pair was separated after it had entertained a noisy Delhi crowd as Dhoni, hampered by recurrence of the left ankle injury sustained in the Jaipur ODI, left himself to be both caught and stumped shortly after getting the ankle strapped up.

The official version recorded in the scorebooks was Dhoni caught Kamran Akmal b Danish Kaneria for a 93-ball 57, featuring seven fours.

The sixth-wicket stand, lasting 129 minutes, was worth 115.

Earlier in the morning session, Misbah (82) and Sami extended their overnight partnership of 68 to 87, Pakistan’s best for the ninth wicket against India, erasing the previous mark of 70 which was recorded twice in the past.

But Misbah-ul-Haq’s farcical run out left everyone shell-shocked. He played the ball towards Karthik at point and went for the single but as the throw arrived at the non-striker’s end, Misbah jumped in the air to avoid being hit and to his horror, found the stumps broken down. TV replays confirmed Misbah’s run out for a well-played 82.

Misbah remained too dazed to take his position at the first slip all day and the medical bulletin from the Pakistan dressing room said he was down with sore throat and high temperature.

Pakistan added 21 runs while batting for 51 minutes this morning before the remaining wickets fell in the space of five balls. Anil Kumble claimed his fourth ‘bowled’ victim of the innings when last man Kaneria didn’t bother to trouble the scorers, leaving the gutsy Sami stranded on 28.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN 1st INNS (overnight 210-8)

Salman Butt b Zaheer 1

Yasir Hameed b Kumble 29

Younis Khan c Patel b Zaheer 7

Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Ganguly 27

Misbah-ul-Haq run out 82

Shoaib Malik c Dhoni b Patel 0

Kamran Akmal b Kumble 30

Sohail Tanvir lbw b Harbhajan 4

Shoaib Akhtar b Kumble 2

Mohammad Sami not out 28

Danish Kaneria b Kumble 0

EXTRAS: (B-6, LB-12, NB-1, W-2) 21

TOTAL: (all out) 231

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13 2-35 3-59 4-76 5-83 6-122 7-137 8-142 9-229

BOWLING: Zaheer 20-5-45-2 (nb1, w2), Patel 24-5-61-1, Kumble 21.2-6-38-4, Ganguly 14-5-28-1, Harbhajan 15-1-37-1, Tendulkar 2-0-4-0.

INDIA 1st INNS

Wasim Jaffer lbw b Akhtar 32

D.Karthik c Akmal b Akhtar 9

R.Dravid b Tanvir 38

S.R.Tendulkar run out 1

S.C.Ganguly b Tanvir 8

V.V.S.Laxman not out 57

M.S.Dhoni c Akmal b Kaneria 57

A.D.Kumble not out 7

EXTRAS: (B-7, LB-8, NB-3, W-1) 19

TOTAL: (for six wkts, 63.2 overs) 228

FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-71, 3-73, 4-88, 5-93, 6-208

BOWLING: Akhtar 13-2-36-2 (NB-1), Tanvir 19.2-4-75-2 (NB-2), Sami 14-1-58-0, Kaneria 17-3-44-1 (W-1).

UMPIRES: Billy Doctrove (WIS) and Simon Taufel (AUS)

TV UMPIRE: Suresh Shastri (IND)

MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)