MULTAN, 22 November 2006 — Yesterday, the third day of the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies here was Brian Lara day. One would run short of words to describe the innings played by the cricket genius and in the process took his team to a position from where they can now dictate during the remaining two days of the match.

When play ended yesterday the tourists were 509 for five in reply to Pakistan’s first innings 357 all out and led by 152 runs. Lara was batting at 196 and Danesh Ramdin was 4 not out.

Lara came to the crease after Pakistan had struck early on through leg-spinner Danish Kaneria who claimed Chris Gayle lbw when the opener was 93 and the total 162.

From then on it was Lara show throughout the day. And what a treat it was to watch him in full cry.

During his run up to another double century (he is just four runs short of the landmark) the master batsman mauled the entire Pakistan attack — seam or spin — alike. Lara mainly targeted Kaneria.

At one stage before lunch while racing to his century Lara scored 60 runs from Kaneria’s 29 deliveries and hit leg spinner for 26 runs in one ove.

Lara’s 34th hundred — the ninth fastest in Test history — came just before lunch off 77 balls which included 12 fours and five sixes and took only 127 minutes. His 34th century — fourth consecutive against Pakistan — left him level with India’s Sunil Gavaskar and only one behind the most century-maker Sachin Tendulkar, who leads the pack with 35. And when he completed 150 runs for the 19th time in his Test career Lara surpassed Don Bradmon’s record of 150 or more runs 18 times in Tests. In his 366-minute stay at the crease so far Lara has hit 21 boundaries seven sixes, putting all home bowlers into submission. He added 58 runs for the second wicket with Daren Ganga (82) and then a record 200 with Dwayne Bravo (89) for the fifth wicket. The previous best for this wicket against Pakistan was 183, set by Collie Smith and Everton Weekes in 1957.

So dominating was Lara’s knock that impressive contributions by Gayle (93), Ganga (82) and Bravo (89) were almost overshadowed.

Pakistan bowlers toiled all day to claim five wickets but in the process conceded 358 runs, the highest score in a day during this series. The best session for the home team was the first when they accounted for the wickets of openers Gayle and Ganga (both claimed by Kaneria) and Runako Morton (5) and Shivnarain Chanderpaul for 14 who fell to Umar Gul and Shahid Nazir respectively.

The second session was completely dominated by the visitors as Lara and Bravo piled up 112 runs during 120 minutes of play without losing any wicket. Pakistan finally dismissed Bravo in the dying moments of the day when he edged Kaneria to slips.

Lara gave two chances, first when Imran Farhat failed to catch a sharp chance in the slip off Shoaib Malik when the batsman was 131 and then wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal dropped him on 183 off Kaneria. Pakistan are without doubt on the receiving end. Most likely the visitors will bat till tea on the fourth day (today) before asking Pakistan to bat again.

And if the home team has chased anything over 300 under pressure they may find the going tough.