By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
New Delhi : India are all set to wrap up the first Test against Pakistan in style. By the end of the fourth day here Sunday they were just 32 runs short of taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Chasing 203 to win, India had scored 171 for three wickets in their second innings and can look forward to putting the final touches to what will be a remarkable win for Anil Kumble in his very first match as captain of the Indian team.
Earlier, India, spurred by leg-spinner Kumble’s three-wicket haul, polished off Pakistan for 247 in their second innings, as Salman Butt top scored with 67 and Misbah-ul-Haq, who despite being unwell, made 45. Pakistan, who made 231 in the first innings, thus took a lead of 202.
India had made 276 in their first innings, replying to Pakistan’s 231.
Sachin Tendulkar was batting on 32 (86 balls, 5x4s) and Sourav Ganguly was on 48 (61 balls, 8x4s) when play ended five minutes before the scheduled close at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium. Batting with assurance and authority they have so far added 78 for the fourth wicket.
Beginning the chase, India lost Dinesh Karthik in the very first over of the innings from Shoaib Akhtar. Karthik once again failed to get into double figures, this time managing only one.
Wasim Jaffer (53, 81 balls, 8x4s) and Rahul Dravid (34, 96 balls, 5x4s) did not let the early dismissal affect them as they added 82 for the second wicket. Jaffer played some delectable drives and Dravid square cut and pulled as only he can.
Jaffer, who likes building an innings, showed aggression at right times as he flicked and pulled fast bowler Mohammed Sami for boundaries to enter the 40s. Later the Mumbai batsman cut Akhtar to the point boundary to bring up his ninth half-century his 23rd Test. But off the next ball, he failed to keep his pull shot down and Butt took a comfortable catch.
Nine runs later, Dravid was bowled by the sheer pace of Akhtar, with the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ finding the gap between the bat and pad.
Akhtar’s exceptional second spell, during which he dismissed Jaffer and Dravid, read: 7-2-16-2. Overall, he took all three wickets for 41 runs in 15 overs.
Tendulkar and Ganguly then took charge and stayed together till close of play.
They gave the Sunday crowd a lot to cheer. Ganguly square cut leg-spinner Danish Kaneria for two successive square cuts and in the next over from Sami, Tendulkar flicked and Ganguly drove to the delight of the spectators.
During the course of his knock, Tendulkar also went past former Australia Allan Border to become the second highest scorer in Test cricket behind Brian Lara of the West Indies. Tendulkar now has scored 11,183, moving past Border’s 11,174. Lara has 11,953 Test runs.
Play ended five minutes before the schedule when the umpires offered to call of play to the batsman who accepted the offer.
Overall, Pakistani bowlers, particularly Akhtar, took a lot of time to bowl their overs and they fell short by 15.1 in India’s second innings.
Earlier, the day began with Pakistan at 212 for five. But wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, who was batting on 21 along with Misbah-ul-Haq (29) overnight, was out at the same individual score.
Akmal, who is going through a poor run, tried to drive left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan through the cover but the angle of the delivery induced an edge from his bat and went straight to substitute Yuvraj Singh at point.
Sohail Tanveer, the next batsman, struck Zaheer for two boundaries in three balls and another one in the next over from Kumble. But soon he fell into Zaheer’s trap. Tanveer hooked a short ball and Harbhajan Singh, waiting for it, gobbled it up at backward square leg.
The last three wickets fell in four deliveries.
Ganguly, in whose bowling ability Kumble seemed to have a lot of faith, struck twice in three balls to dismiss Misbah and Sami.
With his first delivery with the second new ball, Ganguly got rid of the danger man Misbah when an attempted shot over long on did not materialise. Karthik ran ten metres from mid on to take a well-judged catch.
Sami flicked the next ball for a four, but Ganguly soon got his revenge as the batsman top edged the last ball of the over to Jaffer at mid-wicket.
Of the first ball of the next very over by Kumble, Kaneria was run out. He tried to steal a run after pushing the ball to cover, but Tendulkar pounced on it to rocket it to wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who did the rest.
Kumble was again the top wicket-taker, finishing with three for 68, to take his match haul to seven wickets at his favourite venue.
SCOREBOARD
Day Four, First Test, India vs. Pakistan,
Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi
Pakistan (1st innings): 231
India (1st innings): 276
Pakistan (2nd innings, overnight 212):
Salman Butt c Dravid b Kumble 67
Yasir Hameed c Laxman b Kumble 36
Younis Khan lbw b Kumble 23
Mohammad Yousuf c and b Harbhajan 18
Shoaib Malik b Harbhajan 11
Kamran Akmal c sub (Yuvraj) b Khan 21
Misbah-ul-Haq c Karthik b Ganguly 45
Sohail Tanvir c Harbhajan b Khan 13
Mohammad Sami c Jaffer b Ganguly 5
Shoaib Akhtar not out 0
Danish Kaneria run out (Tendulkar/Dhoni) 0
Extras: (leg byes 6, no balls 2) 8
Total: (all out in 83.1 overs) 247
Fall of wickets: 1-71 (Hameed, 25.1 overs), 2-114 (Younis, 38.4), 3-149 (Yousuf, 45.1), 4-155 (Butt, 48.6), 5-161 (Malik, 53.2), 6-213 (Akmal, 66.4), 7-229 (Tanvir, 72.4), 8-243 (Misbah, 82.4), 9-247 (Sami, 82.6)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 18 4 45 2 (1nb)
Munaf Patel 10 2 48 0
Anil Kumble 27.1 8 68 3 (1nb)
Sourav Ganguly 9 2 20 2
Harbhajan Singh 17 4 56 2
Sachin Tendulkar 2 0 4 0
India (2nd innings):
Dinesh Karthik c Akmal b Akhtar 1
Wasim Jaffer c Butt b Akhtar 53
Rahul Dravid b Akhtar 34
Sachin Tendulkar batting 32
Sourav Ganguly batting 48
Extras: (lb 3) 3
Total: (for three wickets in 21.3 overs) 171
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Karthik, 0.6 overs), 2-84 (Jaffer, 27.3), 3-93 (Dravid, 33.2)
Bowling:
Shoaib Akhtar 15 4 41 3
Sohail Tanvir 12 4 26 0
Danish Kaneria 15 2 45 0
Mohammad Sami 12.5 1 56 0
Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Billy Doctrove
(West Indies)
Third umpire: Suresh Shastri (India)
Fourth umpire: Harnarain Singh Sekhon (India)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)