Aggressive batting by Pakistan’s top order allowed them to amass 261 for 2 in just 50 overs in their second innings at Bangalore
The Bulletin by Chandrahas Choudhury27-Mar-2005India 449 (Sehwag 201, Laxman 79*, Kaneria 5-127) and 25 for 0 need 358 more runs to beat Pakistan 261 for 2 (Younis 84*, Hameed 76, Afridi 58) and 570
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out
Younis Khan continued to plunder the Indian bowling, scoring an unbeaten 84 © Getty Images
Pakistan made a concerted push for a series-equalling victory on thefourth day of the Bangalore Test, bowling, batting, and then bowling againin an attempt to speed the game towards its conclusion. Pakistan firstbowled India out for 449, getting a lead of 121, then three of their batsmen rattled uphalf-centuries as they put up 261 for 2 to extend that lead to382, and Inzamam-ul-Haq finally inserted India back in for six oversbefore stumps. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir managed to see the dayout, leaving Pakistan a minimum of 90 overs on the morrow in which to tryand bowl India out.Pakistan would have left themselves more time to bowl at the Indianbatsmen in the evening had they been able to capitalise on a near-perfectstart to the morning session that yielded them three quick wickets andleft India tottering at 396 for 9. But VVS Laxman, having lost threetailend partners to the scorching pace of Mohammad Sami and clevervariations of Danish Kaneria, finally found some support in the form oflast man Anil Kumble. Laxman and Kumble detained Pakistan for 19 overs,added 53 runs for the last wicket, and extended the Indian innings beyondlunch.Shahid Afridi was the man who finally brought an end to the Indianinnings, bowling Kumble with his superfast change-of-pace ball. Afridithen padded up and emerged with Yasir Hameed, and proceeded to make up forlost time by lashing a half-century off just 26 balls, the fastest by aPakistani batsman in Tests, and the joint second-fastest overall. Irfan Pathan and Laksmipathy Balaji had no answer to Afridi’s belligerence, and Pathan’s attempt to bounce Afridionly resulted in the fielder at deep square leg having to retrieve theball from the boundary several times. Pathan’s woes continued when hepalmed an Afridi hit over the boundary for six, giving the batsman hisfifty. It was electric stuff, and Pakistan were back in the hunt.Sourav Ganguly had to resort to the legspin of Sachin Tendulkar to try andquell Afridi, and Tendulkar, bowling from round the wicket with thelegside boundary manned as if to stop an invading army, soon had Afridistumped for 58 (91 for 1). Indeed, after having sped quickly out of theblocks, Pakistan found themselves in marshy territory for a while againstthe leg-stump line of Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, and at one stage lookedto be taking up too much time.
VVS Laxman had to dig deep, and he did so in style © Getty Images
But Younis Khan, who could do no wrong in this match, batted brilliantlyonce again to add 84 not out to his first-innings 267. With so manyfielders on the leg side, Younis spent the better part of his inningsimprovising, mostly with excellent reverse-sweeps. After being reverse-sweptseveral times, Kumble was not amused when Younis suddenly changed hisstance and the grip on the bat and clubbed him over the cover fielder, asif he were a left-handed batsman, for a boundary. Kumble’s one consolationwas the wicket of Yasir Hameed for 78 (183 for 2), his only wicket of thematch.Pakistan would have dearly loved at one least wicket before close of play,and there is every reason to believe that Inzamam would have donesomersaults across the field had one of his opening bowlers managed to getSehwag out. Indeed Sami, who has bowled his heart out in this game, didcome close, producing a nasty lifter that Sehwag fended off with hisgloves, but the ball just fell short of gully.Even so, there was much to commend about Pakistan’s effort, the dedicationand resolve in the ranks being symbolised by Sami, who bowled unchangedfor ninety minutes in the morning; the intelligence by Younis, who battedinventively, and by Inzamam, who had to have his thinking cap on all day;and the raw aggression by Afridi, who has had a real impact on the sidesince being drafted in at Kolkata. Even if they cannot force a resulttomorrow, there are still many things of value that Pakistan will takeaway with them from this series.How they were outIndia Tried to cut a short ball over point but couldn’t clear the fielder. A massive swipe at a legbreak ended in the hands of mid-on. Swung across the line at Kaneria and was adjudged to have got a thin bottom edge. Beaten all ends up by a faster ball.Pakistan Charged down the track, missed, and was stumped by yards. Caught on the crease by an incoming delivery.
