KARACHI, Jan 31: India braced themselves for a world record fourth-innings victory chase after consistent batting display, spearheaded by Faisal Iqbal’s superb maiden century, put Pakistan in command of the series-deciding third Test at the National Stadium on Tuesday.

Pakistan, who had secured a seven-run lead on the first innings, were 518 runs ahead after batting the entire third day to reach a massive 511 for five in the second innings.

The pitch on which batting has now become as easy, the Indian bowlers toiled through 88 overs while Pakistani batsmen helped themselves to 338 runs in 390 minutes.

Remarkably, none of the batsmen failed in the ongoing Pakistan innings in stark contrast to the first day’s top order collapse when scoring runs was a nightmare on the moisture-textured pitch.

Skipper Younis Khan (77 off 122 balls, 11 fours), Mohammad Yousuf (97 off 161 balls, 12 fours) and Shahid Afridi (60 off 446 balls, 9 fours and one six) emulated openers Salman Butt and Imran Farhat in crossing the 50-run mark while Faisal surpassed them all with 103.

Faisal, the 24-year-old nephew of Javed Miandad, followed his illustrious maternal uncle in scoring a century on his first Test appearance against India (154 not out at Lahore in 1978-79).

Miandad also made 100 in the final Test of the same series at Karachi. The right-hander, playing in his 11th Test and first since Cape Town three years ago only after the injured Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq pulled out, reached the coveted landmark of batting on the penultimate ball of the day.

He rocked back and pulled an Anil Kumble long hop to the square-leg boundary for his 12th four.

India adopted a defensive approach when action resumed in the morning with Pakistan sitting pretty at 173 for two and both Younis and Yousuf already settled at the crease.

Younis and Yousuf, who have now amassed more than 1,000 runs batting together against Rahul Dravid’s men, registered their fourth three-figure partnership of the series.

This time they added 158 off 247 balls in little over three hours of sublime display.

The tourists had to wait until after lunch to separate the two. Kumble, who purchased a fair bit from the pitch, claimed both of them in almost identical fashion.

Younis, chasing another hundred in successive Tests, departed when he misread a well-disguised delivery which came in to catch him in front of the stumps. Yousuf too fell in similar fasion trapped lbw by Kumble.

It was Afridi’s turn to induce life into a crowd of around 6,000. He took to settle down in the company of Faisal whose batting does indicate resemblance of Miandad.

These two added 84 in 115 balls, the bulk of them were scored by Afridi.

Afridi fell three overs after the second new ball was taken at 370. The hard-hitting all-rounder got carried away as he hit Irfan Pathan for 14 runs in three balls. R.P. Singh had him caught at deep mid-on by Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar, meanwhile, sat out the first session since he was still feeling the effect of that sickening collision with Yousuf on Monday evening.

Razzaq, partnering with Faisal in the unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 109, bludgeoned the day’s other two sixes, both straight off Kumble on either of the wicket to end the day on 44.

Pakistan’s accomplishment of first six batsmen scoring 50 or more in the same innings has been achieved just three times in the past — England versus West Indies at Kingston, 1929-30; India versus Pakistan at Lahore, 1989-90 and India against Australia at Kolkata in 1997-98.

The big question that springs to mind now is whether Pakistan would close their innings overnight or bat for another hour in order to have two bites of the cherry on either side of lunch.

The highest fourth-innings winning score was achieved only three years ago when West Indies made 418 for seven at St John’s after losing the first three Tests of the four-match rubber.

England finished 38 short of victory after reaching 654 for five in the famous Timeless Test against South Africa at Durban in 1938-39.

That game was declared as a draw only because the Englishmen had to catch the ship to get home.

Scoreboard

Pakistan 1st innings: 245 (Kamran Akmal 113; Irfan Pathan 5-61)

India 1st innings: 238 (Yuvraj Singh 45; Mohammad Asif 4-78)

Pakistan 2nd innings (overnight 173-2):

Salman Butt lbw b Ganguly 53

Imran Farhat c Tendulkar b Pathan 57

Younis Khan lbw b Kumble 77

Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Kumble 97

Faisal Iqbal not out 103

Shahid Afridi c Tendulkar b Singh 60

Abdul Razzaq not out 44

Extras: (b3, lb5, nb11, w1) 20

Total: (for five wkts in 127 overs) 511

Fall of wkts: 1-109, 2-122, 3-280, 4-318, 5-402

BKPathan 23-3-93-1, Zaheer 26-4-93-0, Singh 21-1-91-1, Kumble 33-3-136-2, Ganguly 16-1-68-1, Sehwag 1-0-2-0, Tendulkar 7-0-20-0

Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS), Daryl Harper (AUS)

TV umpire: Asad Rauf (PAK)

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)