December 13, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 2, 1428

BANGALORE, Dec 12: India made history on Wednesday when they secured their first home series victory over Pakistan in 28 years after the tourists survived a nerve-tingling last session to draw the third and final Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Pakistan were looking down the barrel at 162-7 when umpires Simon Taufel and Rudi Koertzen offered the light option to the two unbeaten batsmen Mohammad Yousuf and Mohammad Sami at the end of the third mandatory over.

Under playing conditions agreed between the sides prior to the start of the series, the artificial lights were not to be used. But surprisingly, the local association switched on the lights for about 10 minutes before realising its mistake and was forced to turn off the floodlights following a stern warning from Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC match referee from Sri Lanka.

After spending about half an hour in vain, the umpires pulled out the stumps to put the curtains down on the series, leaving India 1-0 winners in the three-match series after their six-wicket triumph in the first Test at Delhi last month.

Anil Kumble, who picked up his 34th five-wicket haul on Wednesday, must be kicking himself for declaring the Indian second innings belatedly at 284-6 about 70 minutes into the post lunch session.

Left with an unattainable chase of 374 runs in a minimum of 48 overs, Pakistan never really attempted the run chase. However, they nearly stumbled to defeat on a deteriorating strip when Faisal Iqbal, after scoring an enterprising 51 (54 balls, eight fours) recklessly pulled Kumble to Ishant Sharma to trigger a sensational collapse as four wickets fell in 16 balls.

Pakistan could still console themselves for avoiding defeat in face of heavy odds after India had amassed a record first innings score of 626.

However, amidst their long-awaited celebrations, India received one major setback when star batsman Vangipurappu Laxman was rendered a doubtful starter for the Australia tour after being struck a painful blow on his left elbow by Shoaib Akhtar.

Pakistan’s sloppy fielding right through the tour was one of the key areas which decided the series in India’s favour as Yousuf and Younis dropped catches of Dinesh Karthik and Irfan Pathan.

Pakistan’s slender hopes of a dramatic turnaround depended on early strikes when India began at their overnight total of 131-2 with Saurav Ganguly (63) and Rahul Dravid (35) still at the crease. But their expectations turned into despair as the third-wicket pair extended their century partnership to 152 until the breakthrough was achieved in the 15th over of the day.

Ganguly fell just nine runs short of becoming only the seventh man in Test history to score double hundred and a hundred in the same match.

Ganguly’s 91 — featuring 12 fours and one six — also enabled him to become only the second player to score a double hundred and 90 in the same Test against Pakistan.

In the over prior to Ganguly’s dismissal, Dravid’s wishes for a long innings were shattered by a Danish Kaneria’s googly that straightened marginally to trap the former skipper in line of the stumps.

Yuvraj’s 26th birthday turned sour when he was adjudged caught behind off Sami by umpire Rudi Koertzen for two. Television replays indicated that the sound was that of bat hitting the tall left-hander’s boot as it went through to Kamran Akmal.

Karthik scored chirpy 52 off 67 balls after opening his account with a six off a Kaneria full-toss.

Pakistan have found in Misbah-ul-Haq a man who played the role of a saviour by scoring 464 runs in the series.

Scoreboard

INDIA 1st Inns 626

PAKISTAN 1st Inns 537

India 2nd Inns (Overnight 131-2):

W. Jaffer lbw b Arafat 18

G. Gambhir b Shoaib 3

R. Dravid lbw b Kaneria 42

S. Ganguly c Iqbal b Sami 91

V. Laxman retd hurt 14

Yuvraj Singh c Akmal b Sami 2

D. Karthik c Akmal b Arafat 52

I. Pathan not out 21

EXTRAS: (B-9, LB-24, NB-7, W-1) 41

TOTAL: (for 6 wkts decl) 284

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17, 2-26, 3-178, 4-178, 5-184, 6-284

BOWLING: Shoaib 17-5-43-1, Sami 20-2-63-2 (NB-2, W-1), Arafat 13.3-3-49-2 (NB-1), Kaneria 26-2-96-1

PAKISTAN 2nd Inns

Salman Butt c Karthik b Kumble 8

Yasir Hameed b Kumble 39

Younis Khan c and b Kumble 0

Faisal Iqbal c Sharma b Kumble 51

Misbah-ul-Haq b Yuvraj 37

Kamran Akmal b Kumble 0

Mohammad Yousuf not out 10

Yasir Arafat b Yuvraj 0

Mohammad Sami not out 4

EXTRAS: (B-12, LB-1) 13

TOTAL: (for 7 wkts) 162

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44, 2-44, 3-73, 4-144, 5-144, 6-148, 7-154

BOWLING: Pathan 7-4-30-0, Sharma 6-3-22-0, Kumble 14-2-60-5, Harbhajan 6-1-28-0, Yuvraj 3-0-9-2.

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

TV UMPIRE: G. A. Pratapkumar (IND)

MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)