December 11, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1428

BANGALORE, Dec 10: Once again the onus of saving Pakistan from humiliation has fallen on the broad shoulders of Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal after a mid-innings collapse gave India the upper hand in the third and final Test here on Monday.

Misbah, whose marathon 161 not out in the second Test last week rescued his team from a threatening follow-on, initiated yet another rescue operation in the company of Kamran on Monday as Pakistan reached 369-5 in their first innings after the third day’s play at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The tourists need another 58 runs to avert the follow-on but the manner in which Misbah (54 off 162 balls, eight boundaries) has conducted himself in face of adversity enhances the possibility of the imminent danger being thwarted on Tuesday.

Of course, much will depend on Misbah and Kamran (32) – both of whom, thus far have put on priceless 81 runs — if Pakistan are to get back into a position from where they could somehow create a result-oriented situation in their favour.

It is a tribute to Misbah’s tenacity and Kamran’s grittiness that Pakistan came off the field in a happier of frame than it seemed at 288-5 after a mixture of watchful and reckless approach put India in the pole position.

The culprit-in-chief for the mini collapse was skipper Younis Khan himself who, against the run of play, chose to commit hara-kiri when his penchant for the risky reverse sweep against Harbhajan Singh proved fatal. This outrageous act from the reluctant stand-in captain may have ended Pakistan’s slim chance of salvaging an unlikely victory.

Being one of the few senior players in a somewhat brittle line-up, it was imperative for Younis to at least set examples for his team-mates on Monday, specially when he was on the verge of completing another fine hundred after his classy effort at Kolkata. He scored 80 (156 ball, 220 minutes, 12 fours).

Resuming at 86-1 in response to India’s 626, Pakistan began the day cautiously. Salman Butt, who added just 18 to his overnight score of 50, was very edgy this morning and cameperilously close to getting out on several occasions. The opener’s luck finally deserted him when Saurav Ganguly, fresh from his knock of 239, induced a tentative edge through to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps.

India might also have seen the back of Younis in the first session, but umpire Simon Taufel failed to notice that the batsman had glanced a catch to wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik off Ganguly.

India’s other vital gain was Mohammad Yousuf, whose dismissal was instigated by a war of words with Indian captain Anil Kumble. Yousuf, normally an unruffled person, fumed at something said to him in the over prior to his downfall. The matters would have taken a nasty turn had not umpire Simon Taufel intervened to calm Yousuf down.

But the damage was already done as Yousuf (24 off 76 balls) scooped a dolly catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to provide an elated Irfan Pathan his first wicket of the innings.

After the tea interval, Faisal Iqbal’s wretched run of scores continued as he simply fended Ishant Sharma to Gautam Gambhir at short leg. Pakistan’s ploy of playing Faisal (22 off 64 balls) instead of a regular fifth bowler has definitely backfired in this Test.

The inconsistent behaviour of the pitch was not much evident and made the Indian bowlers toil hard for success. In addition, lack of direction in the bowling area proved a boon for Pakistan as India conceded a record 70 extras and two more runs on Tuesday would hand them an unwanted world record.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings 626

PAKISTAN 1st innings (overnight 86-1)

Salman Butt c Karthik b Ganguly 68

Yasir Hameed lbw b Kumble 19

Younis Khan b Harbhajan 80

Mohammad Yousuf c Yuvraj b Pathan 24

Misbah-ul-Haq not out 54

Faisal Iqbal c Gambhir b Sharma 22

Kamran Akmal not out 32

Extras (B-31, LB-25, NB-14) 70

Total (for 5 wkts, 117 overs) 369

FALL OF WKTS: 1-59, 2-149, 3-221, 4-227, 5-288

BOWLING: Pathan 28-11-61-1, Sharma 23-7-88-1 (NB-8), Kumble 28-8-71-1, Ganguly 10-2-20-1 (NB-1), Harbhajan 23-6-66-1, Yuvraj 5-2-7-0 (NB-1)

UMPIRES: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Simon Taufel (AUS).

TV UMPIRE: G. A. Pratapkumar (IND).

MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).