By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
Kolkata : Pakistan’s stand-in captain Younis Khan timed his return to form to perfection. His defiant century, his 15th in Tests, enabled his side force a draw in the second Test against India here Tuesday and keep the series alive going into the third and final match in Bangalore. India lead the series 1-0.
When the two captains called off play, Younis was unbeaten 107 in 214 minutes of quality batting (182 balls, 14x4s) and Mohammed Yousuf was on 44 (143 minutes, 110 balls, 6x4s) on the fifth and final day at the Eden Gardens. The two forged an invaluable 136-run partnership (143 minutes, 222 balls) for the fifth wicket to save Pakistan from a tottering at 78 for four.
Pakistan never looked like chasing the target of 345 in 81 overs at a rate of 4.25 runs an over and finished their second innings at 214 for four wickets in 77 overs, when play was called off.
Earlier, India had declared their second innings at 184 for four after 38 minutes of batting this morning.
India, winning the toss, had amassed 616 for five wickets declared, with Man-of-the-Match Wasim Jaffer scoring a brilliant 202, and Pakistan, thanks to defiant centuries from Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal, replied with 456.
Pakistan gave up all hopes of a possible victory after losing two early wickets in the second innings, including that of Kamran, who had opened the innings. When they lost the fourth wicket at 65, they had to battle it out to save the Test. It was left to Younis and Yousuf, the two senior most batsmen, to drop anchor to steer their team to safety.
It was Younis’s fifth century in eight Tests against India and 15th in 57 matches. The batsman from North West Frontier Province, who led the side in the absence of injured Shoaib Malik, has been one of India’s bugbear in recent times.
Kumble took two wickets for 73 while Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel bagged one wicket each.
SCOREBOARD
Day Five, Second Test, India-Pakistan, Eden Gardens, Kolkata
India (1st innings): 616/5 decl.
Pakistan (1st innings): 456
India (2nd innings, overnight 141/2):
Wasim Jaffer b Kaneria 56
Dinesh Karthik c Misbah b Kaneria 28
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Akhtar 37
Sourav Ganguly b Akhtar 46
Rahul Dravid not out 8
Extras: (leg byes 3, no balls 6) 9
Total: (for 4 wickets decl. in 42.4 overs) 184
Fall of wickets: 1-75 (Karthik, 18.5 overs), 2-95 (Jaffer, 23.3), 3-166 (Dhoni, 38.5), 4-184 (Ganguly, 42.4)
Bowling:
Shoaib Akhtar 12.4 0 46 2 (5nb)
Sohail Tanvir 9 0 41 0 (1nb)
Mohammad Sami 5 1 28 0
Danish Kaneria 15 0 61 2
Salman Butt 1 0 5 0
Pakistan (2nd innings):
Yasir Hameed c & b Khan 14
Kamran Akmal b Kumble 14
Salman Butt lbw b Kumble 11
Younis Khan not out 107
Misbah-ul-Haq b Patel 6
Mohammad Yousuf not out 44
Extras: ((b 8, lb 6, nb 6) 18
Total: (for four wickets in 77 overs) 214
Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Hameed, 6.3 overs), 2-37 (Akmal, 20.2), 3-65 (Butt, 34.5), 4-78 (Misbah, 39.6)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 8 0 32 1 (3nb)
Anil Kumble 25 4 73 2 (1nb)
Munaf Patel 10 3 21 1
Harbhajan Singh 31 5 67 0
Sachin Tendulkar 3 0 7 0
Result: Draw
Series: India lead 1-0
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
Third umpire: Amiesh Saheba (India)
Fourth umpire: K.G. Laxminarayan (India)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)