Irfan Pathan [ Images ] gave India [ Images ] a rousing start, claiming a hat-trick in the first over of the third Test against Pakistan in Karachi on Sunday.

The left-arm paceman became only the second Indian bowler to claim a Test match hat-trick, after India captain Rahul Dravid [ Images ] won the toss and elected to field on a seaming track at the National stadium.

Harbhajan Singh [ Images ], who made way for former India captain Sourav Ganguly [ Images ] in the Test, was the first Indian to take a Test hat-trick. He achieved the feat against Australia [ Images ] in the epic second Test in Kolkata [ Images ], in the 2001 series.

Pathan provided India the breakthrough on the fourth ball, with the wicket of left-hander Salman Butt [ Images ], who was caught by Rahul Dravid in second slip.

He followed it up with two scorching in-dippers -- the first had stand-in captainYounis Khan trapped leg before wicket and the next got through the defences of Mohammed Yousuf.

The home team suffered a big blow when captain Inzamam-ul-Haq [ Images ] pulled out, not feeling 100 per cent fit because of a back strain.

India made one change from the team that drew the second Test at Faisalabad, bringing in Ganguly for off-spinner Harbhajan, while Faisal Iqbal [ Images ] replaced Inzamam in the Pakistan eleven, with Younis taking over as the captain.

After two high-scoring draws in Lahore [ Images ] and Faisalabad, the Karachi track, known to favour bowlers, is expected to break the series deadlock.

The teams:

India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag [ Images ], VVS Laxman [ Images ], Sachin Tendulkar [ Images ], Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh [ Images ], Mahendra Singh Dhoni [ Images ] (wk), Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan [ Images ], Rudra Pratap Singh, Anil Kumble [ Images ]. 12th man: Gautam Gambhir [ Images ].

Pakistan: Younis Khan [ Images ] (captain), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat [ Images ], Mohammad Yousuf [ Images ], Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Afridi [ Images ], Kamran Akmal (wk), Abdul Razzaq [ Images ], Mohamed Asif, Shoaib Akhtar [ Images ], Danish Kaneria. 12th man: Umar Gul.

Umpires: Simon Taufel and Darryl Harper (Both Australia).

Third umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan)

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka [ Images ]).