By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
Bangalore : Sourav Ganguly cracked his maiden double century and Irfan Pathan his first hundred in Tests to give India a vice-like grip on the third and final Test against Pakistan here Sunday, the second day of the match.
Ganguly made a fabulous 239 (523 minutes, 361 balls, 30x4s, 2x6s) and Pathan with his 102 (177 minutes, 133 balls, 10x4s, 4x6s) proved that he has it in him to be an all-rounder India are looking for. The two have recorded their best Test scores on the heels of Yuvraj’s 169 to propel India to a mammoth 626 in their first innings at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In reply, Pakistan were 86 for one in 27 overs by the close of play, with Salman Butt looking good with a fine 50 (120 minutes, 85 balls, 9x4s) and stand-in captain Younis Khan on seven (40 minutes, 33 balls, 1×4).
Pakistan now need 341 more to avoid the follow-on. They have not lost a series in India since 1979, when Asif Iqbal’s side went down 0-2, but the present team will find it difficult to avoid a similar series defeat here.
Ganguly, who completed his 15th century Saturday, notched India’s fifth highest individual score Sunday. He and Pathan, playing in his comeback Test, put on 178 runs for the seventh wicket (220 balls, 145 minutes), the second highest partnership of the innings after the Ganguly-Yuvraj pair’s record 300 for the fifth wicket.
The domination of these three left-handers demoralised the Pakistani attack that again had to make do without pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar Sunday.
The Ganguly-Pathan stand broke India’s seventh wicket record of 155 by Roger Binny and Madan Lal at this venue in 1983-84.
Ganguly continued from where he had left off on the first evening as he cut and drove with authority and exquisite timing. Runs simply flowed from his bat. If he had preferred to play second fiddle to Yuvraj Saturday, he took the centre stage Sunday.
The Bengal southpaw bettered his highest score of 173 that he made against Sri Lanka in Mumbai 1997, on the way to his double century. He reached his first double century (469 minutes, 324 balls, 26x4s, 1×6) with an extra cover drive for two off Arafat.
Soon after, Pathan, batting with panache and control, notched his seventh half-century.
Ganguly was finally out when he tried to sweep Kaneria from outside the off stump, missed the line and was bowled.
Pathan got a ‘life’ at 92, just before tea interval, when Kaneria dropped an extremely difficult chance off his own bowling.
The session between the lunch and tea intervals was highly productive as India thumped 150 runs in 30 overs, losing the wicket of Ganguly.
At tea, India were 611 for seven, with Pathan on 93 that equalled his highest against Sri Lanka in Delhi in 2005, and Anil Kumble on two.
Pathan, playing his first Test since June last year, registered his highest score and completed his maiden century after tea. He reached the mark with by lofting Kaneria for a six (176 minutes, 132 balls, 10x4s, 4x6s) between mid wicket and long on. It was the 33rd innings of his 26th Test.
Off the next ball, Pathan attempted another lofted shot but failed to connect properly and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal took an easy catch. With his dismissal the Indian innings ended after 10 and half hours during which 150.2 overs were bowled.
Bowling his heart out, Arafat took a fabulous five-wicket haul. His figures for the innings were 39-5-161-5. Kaneria bagged three while Sami, who went wicketless in the first two Tests, captured two.
Akhtar had bowled only 10 overs Saturday and left the field with back spasms. Although he returned to the field this morning, again wearing a waist belt, and only fielded as he was not supposed to bowl for a the period he was off the field Saturday. Even when he was eligible to bowl, stand-in captain Younis Khan did not use him.
Earlier, when India resumed their innings at 365 for five, overnight batsman Dinesh Karthik (24, 92 minutes, 70 balls, 3x4s) failed to build a big innings after getting his eye in. He was yet again caught behind, trying to steer a Yasir Arafat delivery.
Karthik’s was the only wicket to fall in the morning session, during which India scored 104 in 27 overs as Ganguly and Pathan took charge of the innings.
In reply, Butt and Yasir Hameed showed initial impetuosity as they attempted ambitious shots. But, they soon settled down and raised 59 for the opening wicket before Hameed was trapped leg before by the India captain.
Left-handed Butt completed 1,000 runs in the 35th innings of his 19th match and then registered his sixth half-century.
SCOREBOARD
Day II, Third Test, India vs. Pakistan, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
India (1st innings, overnight 365/5):
Wasim Jaffer lbw b Arafat 17
Gautam Gambhir c Akmal b Sami 5
Rahul Dravid c Misbah b Arafat 19
Sourav Ganguly b Kaneria 239
V.V.S. Laxman b Arafat 5
Yuvraj Singh c Iqbal b Sami 169
Dinesh Karthik c Akmal b Arafat 24
Irfan Pathan c Akmal b Kaneria 102
Anil Kumble lbw b Kaneria 4
Harbhajan Singh b Arafat 4
Ishant Sharma not out 0
Extras: (byes 13, leg byes 19, no balls 6) 38
Total: (all out in 150.2 overs) 626
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Gambhir, 7.4 overs), 2-44 (Dravid, 16.2), 3-51 (Jaffer, 18.3), 4-61 (Laxman, 22.2), 5-361 (Yuvraj, 87.4), 6-427 (Karthik, 107.4), 7-605 (Ganguly, 144.2), 8-615 (Kumble, 148.1), 9-620 (Harbhajan, 149.2)
Bowling:
Shoaib Akhtar 10 3 23 0
Mohammad Sami 36 5 149 2 (4nb)
Yasir Arafat 39 5 161 5
Danish Kaneria 46.2 8 168 3
Younis Khan 2 0 14 0
Salman Butt 10 1 36 0 (1nb)
Yasir Hameed 7 0 43 0 (1nb)
Pakistan (1st innings):
Salman Butt batting 50
Yasir Hameed lbw b Kumble 19
Younis Khan batting 7
Extras: (b 4, lb 2, nb 4) 10
Total: (for one wicket in 27 overs) 86
Fall of wicket: 1-59 (Hameed, 16.3 overs)
Bowling:
Irfan Pathan 9 4 18 0
Ishant Sharma 7 3 39 0 (4nb)
Anil Kumble 8 4 19 1
Sourav Ganguly 2 0 2 0
Harbhajan Singh 1 0 2 0
Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa)
Third umpire: G.A. Pratapkumar (India)
Fourth umpire: Suhas Phadkar (India)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)