At the end of his 17th over, they flashed on telly his pitch map -- and the story that graphic told could be titled 'Futility'.
Of 102 legitimate deliveries bowled by the left arm rookie, one -- one -- landed in the length spot around the 8-yard mark; the rest were short of length.
In his 18th over, the third delivery was pitched right up; it swung in the air, straightened after pitching, and just missed taking Razzaq's edge. So, lesson learnt, Singh promptly pitched short again.
Zaheer Khan was only marginally better; Irfan Pathan alone among the regular seamers used the extra energy to get the ball up on length more often -- but that expense of energy came at the expense of pace as Pathan bowled mostly a yard or three faster than Afridi at his fastest.
It is both commentary on and indictment of the seamers that the only seam bowler who consistently bowled good length or better was Sourav Ganguly.
When you consider that the six wickets that tumbled on the first morning of the match were all to good length deliveries, the above stats explain India's leather hunt on day three.
The only real positive to emerge during the final session of play was the swift curtailment of Shahid Afridi's mayhem. The signs were ominous -- the second over after tea, bowled by Pathan, had disappeared for 18, including a ferocious hit over square leg. Swept away by his own exuberance, Afridi tried to do unto Singh what he had done to Pathan, and off a short ball that sat up and begged, played a Federer-like forehand down Tendulkar's throat at mid on, ending a cameo of 60 off 46, that powered an 84-run partnership off just 18.5 overs.
Once the Afridi carnival was curtailed, it was back to the grind -- two batsmen with time on their side, prepared to wait for as long as it took, against bowlers who didn't have the ammunition to blast them out or the nous to prise them out.
Faisal Iqbal, warming Inzamam's berth for him, gave the selectors some headaches with a classically composed knock. Of all the Pakistan batsmen on view, he played Kumble the best, coming well forward and playing with angled bat well in front of pad. And when Kumble dropped short, Iqbal was ready with the pull or the cut, played with control and power. Predominantly back-footed, Iqbal throughout his innings was content to wait for the ball he could put away -- and when it came along, the finish was clinical. As with the four that brought up his 100 when, with the field pulled in to deny the single, Kumble pitched marginally short and was immediately pulled over square leg for four, to bring up his 103 off 191 deliveries.
Iqbal with his knock finds himself in the record books -- as being part of only the 4th instance in 1783 Tests where numbers one through six have all scored 50 or better. And with Razzaq on 44, Pakistan could earn the record outright if he gets there too -- thus far, no team in history has had numbers 1-7 all score 50+.
bdur Razzaq, like Iqbal, was content to play the session in second gear -- and outside of two powerful blasts at Kumble straight back over his head and into the sightscreen, he was content to nudge and nurdle runs at leisurely pace.
The Iqbal century closed out play for the day, with Pakistan on 511/5 off 127 overs, ahead on the second innings by 518.
If the Indians are looking for signs to cheer them up, they can look at the quiet play of the Pakistan batsmen in the final session as a good one. On paper, an aggressive captain with a bowling lineup that reads Akthar, Asif, Razzaq, Kaneria and Afridi would have looked to blast the ball around in the final session, then declare with 500-plus on the board, challenging the tired Indians to survive ten overs tonight before having another go at them first thing in the morning tomorrow during the hour or so when dew is a factor.
That Pakistan opted for the grind, instead, should indicate that they are not sure enough of blasting the Indian batting lineup out to be quite so positive. Don't expect the declaration overnight -- if that was on the cards, there would have been more urgency shown in the dying moments of the day today.
Pakistan will likely bat on, for anything from 20-30 overs tomorrow morning, before putting India in.
And that puts the ball, to horribly mangle a metaphor, squarely on the bats of the Indians -- a star-studded lineup all the way down to Pathan at number 8 and, in the final innings of the final Test on a pitch that gets increasingly flatter by the session, collective pride on the line.
Reports on the morning session and the post-lunch session; and more cricket here.
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