HARARE, Sept 20: India were in complete control after the first day of the second Test with Zimbabwe here on Tuesday after the hosts were ousted for only 161 runs in their first innings. At the close of play the Indians had replied with 195-1, a first innings lead of 34 runs with nine wickets in hand.

They will be expecting a large total on Wednesday with Gautam Gambhir at the crease just short of a second century with 95 in partnership with Rahul Dravid, who was on 49.

It was another outstanding day’s work for Indian seamer Irfan Pathan. He followed his nine wickets in Bulawayo last week with seven more as the Zimbabweans folded against his persistent swing and accuracy.

Pathan conceded only 59 runs in the best Test performance of his career.

However, he did not take the most wickets so far in an innings against Zimbabwe. That has been achieved by Muttiah Muralitharan with nine and Allan Donald with eight.

An innings total of 161 would look pretty poor by most team’s standards but by Zimbabwe’s recent efforts it is pretty decent having scored just 59 and 99 against New Zealand last month.

By comparison India lost only Virender Sehwag before the close for 44.

Some of the Zimbabwe bowling was not up to scratch, Andy Blignaut for example conceding 37 runs in five overs and it could have been worse.

Zimbabwe’s first innings total was yet another disappointing batting display for a country trying desperately to improve.

Pathan struck an early blow by getting Brendan Taylor caught at slip by Dravid for only four — making the batsman’s sum total in his last three innings of 21.

Next to go was Terry Duffin for 12, also caught at slip, by Vangipurappu Laxman and skipper Tatenda Taibu went for a duck second ball.

Heath Streak went just before lunch for 15, caught by Gambhir and Hamilton Masakadza fell soon afterwards for 27. These two added 44 for the fifth wicket.

Pathan, relentlessly building up his number of victims, proceeded to claim Blignaut for 13 caught behind, Keith Dabengwa for 19 caught by Laxman and Blessing Mahwire for one run trapped leg before.

He was escorted off the ground by his colleagues, after dominating the proceedings for three hours and 14 minutes.

Harbhajan Singh snatched the wickets of Streak and of Charles Coventry. But Anil Kumble bowled indifferently and was wicketless.

The other wicket was taken by Zaheer Khan, who was also not at his best, getting Dion Ebrahim to a spectacular catch by wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik.

Together with Blignaut, Coventry was the dominant partner for the seventh wicket which produced 43.

Without theirs and Streak and Masakadza’s partnerships Zimbabwe would have been in much worse shape. As it is their first innings total already puts them out of the game.

India won the first Test in the two-match series by an innings and 90 runs.

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