By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
New Delhi : Misbah-ul-Haq’s dogged 71 not out saved Pakistan from complete collapse and embarrassment as he helped his team recover from a wobbly position to end the opening day at a rather respectable 210 for eight in the first Test against India here Thursday.
It was Misbah’s maiden Test half-century (204 balls, 5x4s, 1×6) and the highest score of his fledgling international career including One-Day Internationals. He and Mohammed Sami (20, 77 balls, 2x4s, 1×6), who also showed tremendous application, have so far put on invaluable 58 for the unbeaten ninth wicket and look for some more.
On a day when weather changed dramatically, Indian bowlers, led by new captain and leg-spinner Anil Kumble, dominated the none-too-strong Pakistani batting at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium-until Misbah and Sami joined forces.
Kumble, bowling at his favourite venue where he took all 10 wickets in the second innings of the 1999 Test against Pakistan, was the day’s most successful bowler with three wickets. He also completed 50 wickets at the Kotla. Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan ended up with two wickets.
Pakistan, on the other hand, will rue frittering away the advantage of winning the toss. The visitors’ woes were partly due to variable bounce in the pitch and partly due to good, penetrative bowling by the Indians.
When the stumps were drawn, 4.2 overs before the scheduled close due to poor visibility, Pakistan were in a position from where it was clear that the match would eventually not end in a one-sided contest as it looked a few hours earlier.
After the pitched settled down in the afternoon, 33-year-old Misbah, an accomplished right-handed batsman from Mianwali in Punjab, showed his fine temperament to bail out the team from the morass they were in at 83 for five.
Misbah never attempted ambitious shots, but was instead content playing defensively as wickets kept falling at the other end. Barring a difficult chance at 69, when a fierce pull shot off Munaf Patel smashed against Harbhajan Singh’s hands at square leg before the ball dropped to the ground, it was a flawless innings of high class from Misbah.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and, as expected, opted to bat.
But even before the players could settle down amidst the misty morning, Zaheer had struck two vital blows. The left-arm pacer first removed in-form left-handed Salman Butt (1) by a sharp in-cutter in the fifth over.
Not long after that blow, the Mumbai bowler dismissed the danger man Younis Khan, who had scored an amazing 1,061 runs at 106.10 against India going into this match. It was a well-directed bouncer that the North West Frontier Province batsman failed to put down as his played a hook shot and the ball popped up for Munaf Patel to take an easy catch at fine leg.
The experienced Mohammed Yousuf then struck two successive boundaries off Zaheer to indicate that things would be under control.
But Pakistan received another jolt, soon after crossing 50. Kumble bowled a well-disguised googly to castle Yasir Hameed (29, 66 balls, 4x4s), leaving him completely clueless. Pakistan were now reeling at 59 for three.
The Pakistani players must have had a far-from-comfortable lunch at 74 for three.
As if to symbolise Pakistan’s poor position, the visibility suddenly became very poor and it was quite dark. It was worse than when the game started at 9.30 a.m. and the umpires called for light metres.
Soon Sourav Ganguly struck a big blow with his military medium pace. The former captain deceived the Yousuf as the master batsman missed the line and was declared leg before the wicket.
With the addition of a few runs to the total, Munaf, who came into the side after Sreesanth and Rudra Pratap Singh were ruled out due to injuries, accounted for Malik. The skipper tried to play from his position and ended up snicking the ball to wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
A 39-run partnership between wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal (30, 50 balls, 5x4s) and Misbah ensued. They looked like getting hold of the situation, but a Kumble delivery that kept quite low baffled and castled Akmal, who is passing through a poor run.
Sohail Tanveer and Shoaib Akhtar posed no problems to Indian bowlers, but Sami stayed put to frustrate them.
SCOREBOARD
Day One, First Test, India vs. Pakistan, Ferozeshah
Kotla Stadium, Delhi, Nov 22
Pakistan (1st innings):
Salman Butt b Khan 1
Yasir Hameed b Kumble 29
Younis Khan c Patel b Khan 7
Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Ganguly 27
Misbah-ul-Haq batting 71
Shoaib Malik c Dhoni b Patel 0
Kamran Akmal b Kumble 30
Sohail Tanvir lbw b Harbhajan 4
Shoaib Akhtar b Kumble 2
Mohammad Sami batting 20
Extras: (byes 6, leg byes 11, wides 2) 19 Total: (for eight wickets in 85.4 overs)
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Butt, 4.6 overs), 2-35 (Younis, 12.6), 3-59 (Hameed, 21.2), 4-76 (Yousuf, 29.1), 5-Malik, 83.5), 6-122 (Akmal, 47.2), 7-137 (Tanveer, 52.1), 8-142 (Akhtar, 53.6)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 16 3 36 2 (2w)
Munaf Patel 20.4 4 54 1
Anil Kumble 20 5 38 3
Sourav Ganguly 12 5 24 1
Harbhajan Singh 15 1 37 1
Sachin Tendulkar 2 0 4 0
Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
Third umpire: Suresh Shastri (India)
Fourth umpire: Harnarain Singh Sekhon (India)