Pakistan vice-captain Younis Khan and Yuosuf Youhana hammered centuries as they shared an unbroken 203-run partnership to completely neatralize whatever little advantage India had gained on day 2 in the second Test at Kolkata on Thursday.
The duo came together with the Pakistan total on 70 for the loss of two wickets and proceeded to punish the Indian bowlers without remorse.
At close of play, the visitors had scored 273 for 2, with Younis on 108 off 169 balls, including 14 boundaries, and Youhana on 101off 172 balls, inclusive of 13 boundaries.
Earlier, India, starting the day on 344 for 6, were quickly bundled out for 407 by the Pakistan bowlers.
Morning session: India (63 runs, 22 overs, 4 wickets)
It took only 13 balls in the first session of the day for Dinesh Karthik to commit the cricketing equivalent of suicide.
The young wicketkeeper pushed the ball to the off side and took off for a dangerous single; Mohammad Khalil moved across from point and scored a direct hit at the bowler's end to send Karthik (28 off 52) back to the pavilion. (345 for 7)
It was bad thinking on Karthik's part and showed his inexperience at the Test level. One simply doesn't get run-out in Test matches.
In the first overs of the session it seemed as if the Pakistani players were marked men. When Khalil threw down the wickets at the bowler's end to dismiss Karthik, the bail hit Danish Kaneria just above the right eye. Luckily, the injury wasn't serious.
In Kaneria's next over, Asim Kamal, at short-leg, was at the receiving end. He was hit on the back of his helmet by a stirring sweep from Laxmipathy Balaji. Another Pakistan player floored in the line of duty, but he just brushed the dust of himself and went straight to the short leg position.
Balaji got a huge ovation as he walked out to bat but he did not last long. He scored 31 off 36 balls in the first innings at Mohali and that raised expectation. But he was pegged back here by some good bowling from Kaneria and Razzaq to begin with.
While these two kept the batsmen quiet, they, however, did not really trouble them. So Inzamam-ul Haq brought Shahid Afridi into the attack and he struck off his first delivery.
It was his quicker delivery that did the damage. Fired in at great pace, Balaji's (3 off 20 balls) bat came down too late and he was bowled. It was a superb delivery. (357 for 8)
Eleven balls later, Pathan (8 off 35 balls) joined Balaji in the pavilion. Kaneria pitched outside the off stump and turning in, Pathan forced himself into a defensive push forward, the ball hit pad then bat and popped up on the off side. Younis Khan, at silly point, reacted well and took a good catch. (363 for 9)
There was some doubt in the dismissal, and replays proved inconclusive.
At this stage, India were in big trouble. Cricket is all about momentum. India dominated the first Test at Mohali for the first four days and then gave it away on the last day. Here, in Kolkata, they dominated most of the play on Day 1 only to give Pakistan a chance late in the day.
Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble were left with the responsibility of taking the team's total past 400. They did do that with some stunning shot-making. Cover drives, square cuts and edges helped put the Pakistani bowlers on the back foot.
The new ball was finally taken in the 108th over and it got the desired result. Three overs later Harbhajan (27) was trapped in front of his stumps by Razzaq. India were bowled out for 407 -- their highest total against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens. Anil Kumble was not out on 21.
But is 407 enough? It may seem like a healthy total, but when one remembers that India were 278 for the loss of just two wickets, it could well be another good solid start provided by the top four batsmen going down the drain.
Pakistan innings: (17 runs, 5 overs)
At the start of this tour, Bob Woolmer had said that the Pakistan team is going to stick with the same opening combination for the series. It did not take him long -- in fact just one Test -- to go back on his word. Afridi took Salman Butt's place at the top of the order.
If there is one batsman in the world who can match Virender Sehwag's audacity, it is Afridi. The first ball he faced was dispatched for four as was the last ball of the session.
Afridi was sent out to attack and he did that with an ease that must have sent tremors down the Indian dressing room.
At the break, Pakistan were 17 for no loss after five overs. Shahid Afridi was on 16, off 14 balls, and Umar, yet to open his account, was lucky to still be there having being dropped by Rahul Dravid at first slip off Balaji.
Post-lunch session (28 overs, 130 runs, 2 wickets)
Afridi continued to go for his shots after lunch. The onslaught was expected. That is what Afridi is good at, but one also could not help but notice how Sourav Ganguly's shoulders started to droop in response.
Meanwhile, Umar, on 1, was given another life by Sehwag at third slip and Balaji was the bowler to suffer once again.
Afridi reached 29 with the help of seven boundaries before he tried one shot too many. In one Pathan over he hammered three boundaries off the first five balls. But he wasn't satisfied with that. Pathan banged in another delivery and Afridi went after it. But he did not get hold of it and the mis-hit was skied towards Tendulkar, who made no mistake with an easy catch at mid-on. (35 for 1)
Younis Khan walked in next, under immense pressure for his place in the side. Inconsistent performances in the Test arena have seen his place being questioned. But the right-hander responded by adopting an aggressive approach.
Umar, though, led a charmed life. Several hits and misses confirmed that the left-hander was struggling to find a good rhythm at the wicket and Balaji, belatedly, got reward for some good bowling.
A shortish delivery outside the leg-stump, that could well have been left alone, got the wicket.
Umar (18 off 43 balls) turned it away on the leg-side but failed to keep it down and Harbhajan, at square-leg, timed his jump well to take the catch well over his head. (70 for 2)
That brought one of the Pakistani big guns, namely Yousuf Youhana, to the wicket. It was a very interesting phase of play; a few quick wickets would have given the hosts a big advantage, but both the batsmen batted sensibly to put paid to India's hopes.
Their approach was simple: go for maximum if the ball is there to be hit. They did that with aplomb and soon the partnership started to gather momentum. The 50 of the partnership came off 77 balls.
Neither Kumble nor Harbhajan was able to ruffle the batsmen. The post-lunch session is said to be the best for batting and we could see why. The pitch seemed to have settled and even though it was overcast, the bowlers got no assistance from the wicket.
Youhana worked the ball into the gaps (14 singles and 3 two's) well and ended the session on 44 off 66 balls. Younis was on 50 off 73 balls.
In the 28-over session, Pakistan scored 130 runs, at a very healthy run-rate of 4.64.
Post Tea session (33 overs, 143 runs)
The Indian team looked flat. Younis and Youhana's brilliant running between wickets was largely responsible for that. The duo regularly pushed the ball towards the fielders and set off for quick singles. The boundaries came as well, but it was the running between wickets that took one's breath away. The Indians were hard-pressed to stop the singles and twos.
Pakistan maintained a brilliant run-rate, their 150 coming after just 34.3 overs. Had this been a one-day match the visitors would have been well placed at that stage.
But they slowed down a bit after this and their 200 came up after 48.4 overs. But the important thing at this point was that they had not lost any more wickets.
Ganguly made some odd decisions in the first hour of play after tea. Of the 46 overs bowled in the innings, Harbhajan, who is the highest wicket-taker at the Eden Gardens with 29 wickets in four Tests, had bowled only six. At the same stage Kumble had sent down 19 overs.
Call that rank bad captaincy. What was the Indian skipper thinking as he continued to ignore the talented off-spinner?
Bajji was finally brought into the attack, but, by then, the damage had already been done. Younis reached his seventh Test century and Youhana was well on his way to the landmark. Both batsmen were more than alert to the vagaries of the Eden track by now.
Sometimes Ganguly seems to slip into a state of stupor; today was one of those days. If your top bowlers are not able to make a breakthrough it is only logical that you let your part-time bowlers have a go at the batsmen.
Ganguly has some interesting options in Tendulkar and Sehwag, but they were not given a go even as the game continued to drift away from the Indians.
The trick at this point would have been to force the batsmen to do something different rather than let them settle into a comfortable rhythm.
One has to give Pakistan a lot of credit. They looked down and out with the Indian total on 278 for 2 on day 1, but fought back well.
Youhana got his 13th Test hundred with a boundary off the last ball of the day. As simple as that, Pakistan came back from nowhere to put themselves in a position of strength.
The 203-run partnership is already the highest third-wicket partnership for Pakistan in India. The way things are, more records will surely tumble on day 3.
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