Salman Butt uses his left hand in a vice-like grip on the bottom of the handle, very close to the splice, and uses that bottom hand and snappy wristwork to get punch into his shots -- a lot of which he plays away from his body.
Imran Farhat is the more orthodox opener, more in the Aamir Sohail mould, playing with softer hands and closer to his body, very fluent through the off, both square and straight.
Judging by today's display, they also have the temperament for this level. Both were part of a disastrous collapse in the first innings, neither indicated by their play today that it had left any scars. Fluent drives, cuts and the occasional fierce pull kept the board ticking over at the customary pace (run rates in excess of 4 an over could be understood in Lahore and Faisalabad; here that rate, maintained throughout the two days by both teams, comes as a bit of a surprise) in an evening session that rubbed India's nose in the error of approaching its first innings in too thoughtless a fashion.
The first four overs after tea defined the course of the session. Zaheer Khan, in the over after tea, bowled four deliveries on the stumps and Farhat treated them with respect; the fifth was wide of off and blasted through point.
At the other end, Irfan Pathan produced an identical over to Salman Butt, again spoiling a tight line with the gift ball.
The third and fourth overs were identical, and Pakistan was away.
It's funny -- when a wicket has much in it to offer, why is it that bowlers feel the need to work so hard and try so many different things, invariably with disastrous results?
This Test is a classic example -- 40 fours and 1 six punctuated Pakistan's 245; 35 fours and a six contributed to India's 238; both sets of bowlers were guilty of gift-wrapping the majority of those boundary-balls.
You would have thought that was enough to teach bowlers to keep to optimal lengths and lines and let the pitch do the work for them -- but even the experienced Anil Kumble 'tried' like the dickens, sprayed them all over, and paid.
Sourav Ganguly is the only bowler in the side who makes almost a fetish of bowling wicket to wicket and not trying anything fancy -- and it was he who, in the 26th over, produced the breakthrough with a slight inswinger that straightened to pin Salman Butt in front of his off stump, just two deliveries after Butt, emulating his partner (Imran Farhat 50/70 at that point), had gotten to his 50 off 72 deliveries (109/1 Pakistan).
Shortly thereafter, Imran Farhat kicked himself all the way back to the hut after an injudicious hook at an Irfan Pathan bouncer that found the top edge to go down Tendulkar's throat at mid on (57/87; 122/2 Pakistan).
Younis and Yousuf, both on a pair, found themselves together -- and found Dravid asleep. Though he did have Pathan on at one end, he let Sourav have a couple of overs too many, allowing the two right-handers to settle against the gentle pace rather than attacking early and hard, with either Zaheer or Kumble.
With the bowlers seemingly tiring mentally and physically, Younis and Yousuf played themselves in and, by close, had begun stroking with the sort of fluency that characterized their associations in Lahore and Faisalabad.
Younis, on 17, reached his 1000 against India -- off six matches that have produced four centuries and two fifties and an average a tick over 111; the way he's been going, he'll want to bat against India for a living.
Of the two, it was Yousuf who looked the more assured, playing very straight and hitting his drives with remarkable fluency -- one such straight drive off Zaheer brought up his 5000 Test runs, at an average of 50.5. That makes him the 5th Pakistani batsman to cross the mark -- and his average is third best, ahead of Salim Malik and Zaheer Abbas.
The two eased their way to the 50-run partnership off 62 deliveries -- typically, the landmark came up off a short, wide, angled delivery from RP Singh that Younis took to the bank on the point boundary.
Pakistan went in looking good, ahead by 180 on the second innings after a session that produced 147 runs in 32 overs for the loss of the two openers.
For India, the biggest worry is not the two-not outs -- it is the fact that Zaheer Khan and RP Singh both appear AWOL; Zaheer in particular looks tired, off color, and totally lacking in rhythm, not a comfortable thought ahead of a day on which much bowling awaits.
The way the game is going, it's looking like the turn of batsmen to dominate, after bowlers on both sides had their day in the sun. National Stadium curator Ehsain Arain says as much, here -- and that, plus Karachi's fourth innings record also referenced in the above post, could be the tiniest sliver of a silver lining India will be looking at.
The key, though, is the 270 overs that remain in this Test Pakistan, with a solid platform in place, has the opportunity to use a good 130-140 of those to build a mountain of runs, before asking India if it has the nerve and the skill to bat out a good 120 or more overs against attacking spin and seam both on the final day.
Detailed reports of the morning session and afternoon session.
© 2024 Rediff.com -