MULTAN, Sept 6: Inzamam-ul-Haq scored a masterly unbeaten century to guide Pakistan to a sensational one-wicket victory over Bangladesh on the penultimate day of the third and final Test at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

Inzamam could not have chosen a more appropriate moment to silence his growing list of detractors with perhaps the finest innings of his illustrious 88-Test career.

The tall right-hander stroked a magnificent 138 that ultimately made all the difference as Pakistan completed their fourth whitewash of a three-Test rubber 25 minutes after lunch on this very exciting but tense fourth day.

Pakistan went to lunch at 250 for eight after a dramatic 150-minute session because of the 9.30am start to make up for the over lost due to bad light on Friday evening.

The drama continued after the break when Umar Gul was run out at the batting end when Inzamam send him back with Pakistan four runs short away from the victory,

With the tension mounting, somehow, last man Yasir Ali managed to keep away two balls from his stumps before scurrying to the safety of the non-striker’s end.

Inzamam pulled the last delivery of the 91st over of Pakistan’s innings, bowled by Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud, to the deep square-leg where Mohammad Rafique made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to prevent the ball crossing the ropes.

Pakistan, who now have won each of their six Tests against Bangladesh, in the process, swap place with Sri Lanka on the ICC Test Championship table, moving to sixth in the rankings,.

Starting the day at 148 for six, still 113 runs away from the target of 261 with Inzamam batting on 53 and Saqlain Mushtaq (3), Pakistan needed a long partnership to ease the tension in the dressing room.

Saqlain having taken his score to 11, however, prolonged that agony by playing casually at Khaled Mahmud’s second ball of his first over of the day, after only 14 runs were added to the overnight total, offering a simple catch to wicket-keeper Khaled Mashud.

Shabbir Ahmed, who belongs to Khanewal a town 35 kilometres from here, joined Inzamam, with the home side 98 runs away from victory. With a highest score of 50 in first-class cricket Shabbir offered Inzamam the support that was required after being let off before he had even opened his account. Had Hannan Sarkar taken that catch in the slips, it would have definitely sealed Pakistan’s fate.

Bangladesh achieved an unexpected breakthrough when umpire Russell Tiffin adjudged Shabbir lbw to Rafique for 13. The TV replays, not for the first time in the game, confirmed that the Zimbabwean, standing in his 37th Test, had made another blunder because the ball had thudded into the batsman’s back leg after taking a big inside edge. The stand between Inzamam and Shabbir had produced 41 priceless runs, taking the score to 205.

It seems that Pakistan’s cause was aided by divine intervention in the City of Saints. Somehow luck kept deserting the Bangladeshis while Pakistan survived one disaster after another. This was apparent twice in quick successions. Umar Gul was warned by Rafique for backing too far at the non-striker’s end. But in a great gesture of sportsmanship the spinner refused to run him out although he was entitled to within the law of the game.

Rafique, it was, who also broke the stumps at the bowler’s with Pakistan 212 for eight. Umar, who was short of the crease, escaped because the bails had been already been dislodged well before the stumps were thrown down.

Inzamam, who had been marshalling the strike with precision with both Shabbir and Umar Gul, reached a truly splendid century, his third against Bangladesh and second on the same ground, by turning Rafique behind square-leg for a single.

None of Inzamam’s previous centuries were more important than this one — which took a minute short of four hours to complete off 174 deliveries and punctuated with 14 boundaries and a six - because he was batting under intense pressure for a variety of reasons.

In all, he batted for five hours and 17 minutes while negotiating 232 balls and striking 20 delightful boundaries besides that six.

Umar Gul, though may have scored only five runs while facing 53 deliveries, but it was his commonsense in the ninth-wicket stand that realized 52 runs in 99 minutes that allowed Inzamam to play on his terms which finally settled the issue once and for all.

Scoreboard

Bangladesh (1st innings 281) (Habibul Bashar 72; Umar Gul 4-86)