PAKISTAN found out at first hand what Murphy's Law was all about when Shoaib Akhtar went off the field with a wrist injury halfway through an over of a magnificent spell.

Its cup of grief was already full with India at 274 for four. From here on it would only spill over. Nothing went right for Pakistan and when Taufiq Umar might have caught Saurav Ganguly off Imran Farhat, a sharp slip catch, it didn't seem to matter.

India already has a lead of 118 runs, Rahul Dravid is batting on 134 and Ganguly on 53 and there are six wickets in hand. It's not quite game, set and match but it is increasingly looking that way. Pakistan must now look to the glorious uncertainties of cricket.

Three times Shoaib Akhtar brought Pakistan back in the game. The first when he dismissed Virender Sehwag after Pakistan had been unceremoniously bundled out for 224. The second when he got Sachin Tendulkar and India had scored only 130 and was still behind and the third was when he bowled Vangipurappu Laxman who had been batting imperiously. These were flourishes in an otherwise flat performance.

Dravid has batted all day. Not for nothing is he known as The Wall. But he was lucky. He looked to be out leg-before to Mohammad Sami. David Shepherd gave him the benefit of the doubt when there appeared to be no doubt.

He is a cheerful character, a sort of a clean-shaven Santa Claus in civvies. Neither batsman nor bowler seems to mind very much when he appears to make a mistake.

But there was certainly no doubt about the sitter that Yasir Hameed dropped off Sami when Dravid was in his 70s. This the turning point of the day, this was Murphy's Law. No catch in a Test match is simple and one feels for the fielder. But catches both win and lose matches and this one belonged in the latter category.

There is an American Indian saying: "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." Dravid was not going to bring shame on himself. He gave no other chance, not even a semblance of it.

He had to come good in the series. He chose the Rawalpindi Test match to show us how good a player he is. Even when the final batting session began to resemble net-practice, he was not going to give it away.

The innings of the day was played by Laxman. He had come in to bat at the fall of Tendulkar's wicket. Pakistan had been lifted by that dismissal. He is a hesitant starter but a quick flurry of wristy strokes changed the tempo of the innings.

Suddenly, it seemed to be the happy hour. Laxman made 71 brilliant runs. It was this partnership with Dravid that put India in the driving seat. He missed a Shoaib Akhtar full toss and was bowled. He looked shocked for he probably never saw the ball and heard only the rattle of his stumps.

Earlier Parthiv Patel had held on tenaciously and bravely to make 69. He had opened the innings, the subject of much discussion as to whether India's long terms interests were being best served and why Ganguly himself not come in to open the innings? It was an earnest discussion.

The bottom line was that he had put on 129 runs with Dravid. He had been asked to do a job and he had done it. Barring Shoaib Akhtar, there was no edge to Pakistan's attack and he was the only bowler who commanded respect and he brought a certain relevance to the bowling.

Lakshmipathy Balaji, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra had swung the ball. For the Pakistan bowlers it seemed to be a lost art. There wasn't any reverse swing either. Danish Kaneria put in an honest day's labour. Indeed all the bowlers tried hard and there was no help in the wicket. Fled was the vision of a green wicket and it was as good a batting wicket as the Indians would have wanted.

This is a Test match that has gone wrong for Pakistan from the moment the toss was lost. Some of it has been Pakistan's own doing. But most of it has been due to the manner that India has outplayed Pakistan. It has done so with strategy and a plan that has remained loyal to the strategy. It has also enjoyed the rub of the green.

India will want to bat Pakistan out of the Test match leaving it to salvage a draw if it can. If an option of a draw was offered to Pakistan it would accept it. That's how the Test match stands at the moment. But one never knows in this game of cricket. That's what its supporters must be hoping.