BANGALORE, 29 March 2005 — The decisive third and final Test script written in advance may not have been as thrilling as it turned out to be in the end with a nail-biting finish and a well deserved 168 runs victory for Pakistan which in fact enabled them to level the series 1-1.

Pakistan had done well to save the first Test at Mohali and then India got the better of them in the second match in Calcutta to beat them by 195 runs. For Pakistan, it was sweet revenge and a befitting reply to their critics that even without real firepower a game can be won.

The victory was all the more memorable for the fact that Pakistan on their last outing here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in 1987 also had beaten India by a close margin of 16 runs.

India, on the final day set to make 383 to win, had started the day 25 without loss aiming to save or win the match. The first option was a sort of impossibility, the second indeed was not beyond them when with 102 for one at lunch they may not have imagined that this game of glorious uncertainty can turn around to haunt them in the end.

But in the last two sessions the pressure was so enormous that India could add only 112 more runs to be all out for 214 and conceded defeat with about six overs still to be bowled for the day.

For this, the victorious Pakistan captain owed much to his spinners Shahid Afridi, Danish Kaneria and Arshad Khan who between them shared seven wickets and turned out the trump cards once the explosive Virendar Sehwag was run out before lunch having made 38. Had Gautam Gambhir not scored 52, India might have buckled a lot earlier than they did.

The wicket had nothing sinister about it but the spinners looked menacing once they smelled blood. Gambhir’s fifty had come immediately after Sehwag was run out while attempting a single and was out to a direct throw from Abdul Razzaq. For the Pakistanis, it was a huge sigh of relief to see him go back to the pavilion.

Sehwag had been looking dangerous during his stay at the wicket, smashing seamer Razzaq for three consecutive boundaries and then lofting Kaneria for two fours.

Gambhir failed to add to his 52 after lunch and was leg before to Mohammad Sami and then off spinner Arshad Khan struck in his first over to remove Rahul Dravid to a bat-pad catch to silly point where Younis Khan took a superb diving catch for 16.

India later lost two more wickets before tea when V.V.S. Laxman was trapped in front of the wicket by Shahid Afridi for 5 and then bowled Ganguly between bat and pad as he attempted a loose drive against a sharp leg-break. Ganguly scored 2.

This surely was the turning point of the match as Pakistan attacked with all its resources to pressurize India.

Had Sachin Tendulkar been caught by Asim Kamal at short leg off Sami before tea when he was 11 perhaps the demise would have been even quicker. At tea with 140 for 5 India were in danger and Pakistan highly charged up.

After resumption Dinesh Karthik saw his off-stump uprooted when Sami bowled him with an in-swinging yorker on 9 and Tendulkar who had defied the odds for about two hours and twenty minutes was caught bat and pad at short leg off Afridi’s wrong one for 16 runs.

Anil Kumble who made an unbeaten 37 was lucky not be given out by Simon Taufel after he had edged Kaneria to the keeper.

Afridi never allowed the Indian batsmen to settle down with his fast leg-breaks. He bowled six maidens in a row to make things difficult for the tail-enders. But it was not Afridi, but off spinner Arshad Khan who gave Pakistan another breakthrough having Irfan Pathan caught off bat and boot without scoring. Harbhajan holed out to Kaneria and with eleven overs remaining India were left with the last pair of Kumble and Balaji. As overs began to run out Kumble with delightful strokes past cover counterattacked in vain.

As Kaneria snared Balaji to bring smile to the faces of Inzamam and his men, Afridi’s 3 for 13 in 17 overs and Arshad Khan’s 2 for 21 in 14 overs told the story of the Test match.

Pakistan’s 168-run win against India to level the series reflected the character of his young team, Inzamam said.

“The boys have shown tremendous character by fighting back after losing the second Test in Calcutta,” Inzamam told reporters.

“This win is a tribute to their hard work.”

“This was a very crucial game. We knew we had to go all out. I was going to the bowlers and talking to them. It all worked out for us,” he said.

“A (series) draw in India is a big thing for us because it’s never easy to make a comeback against the home side. It was always going to be a tough challenge, but we overcame it.”

“The victory will go a long way in helping Pakistan cricket. We’re a very young side, we needed the confidence of a big victory like this,” Inzamam said.

Pakistan’s spinners exploited helpful conditions to grab seven of the 10 wickets, making it a memorable 100th Test for their captain.

“After the first session, when India were 102 for one, it looked like a draw. We knew our only chance was to attack. The four wickets between lunch and tea proved crucial,” he said.

“The situation at lunch was difficult but the wicket was deteriorating fast. It wasn’t easy for a new batsman to settle in and a dismissal in these conditions can always lead to one or two more.”

Indian captain Saurav Ganguly blamed his team’s defensive batting approach for their loss and said he was confident he would recover from his slump in form.

“We lost too many wickets quickly because we got too defensive,” Ganguly said. “It was not a conscious effort to get in a negative mode, but it cost us.”

Set 383 to win, Ganguly said India planned to wait in the morning session before deciding whether to go for the win.

“We just wanted to bat and not worry about the target, but wickets kept falling,” he said.

“A lot of credit should be given to the Pakistani bowlers. It was a good effort by them. A few good balls and some bad shots led to our defeat.”

Ganguly has suffered a wretched time with the bat scoring 21, 12, 12, one and two in the series and he was booed to and from the crease by the crowd during his short innings yesterday.

“I’ve been in situations like this in the past and I’ve managed to come out of them,” Ganguly said.

He said the question of retaining him as captain was for the selectors to answer.

Meanwhile, Inzamam has been banned for one Test for showing dissent during the third and final Test yesterday.

“We had a hearing with the match referee Chris Broad for two counts of excessive appealing and dissent,” Saleem Altaf, manager of the Pakistan cricket team, said.

“On the first count, he has been fined 30 percent of his match fees and on the second, a level two offense, he has been given a one-Test match ban.”

Altaf said both instances were during the first half hour of play yesterday.