LAHORE, 8 April 2004 — Pakistan gave an outstanding display of cricket on the third day of the second Test against India to stand on the verge of victory at the Qaddafi Stadium here yesterday.
In the morning session, they withstood and the onslaught of India’s bowlers with some excellent batting and then outplayed India on the field during the afternoon.
Pakistan took a 202-run lead after resuming at 355 for three. The second innings batting by India was again spineless and the tourists were left wobbling at 149 for five at the close, still needing 53 runs to make Pakistan bat again. Pakistan’s first innings tally was 489.
Earlier, a gritty innings of 73 by Asim Kamal, playing in only his third Test, put Pakistan into a commanding position after some early breakthroughs by the Indian attack.
Overnight batsmen Inzamam ul-Haq and Yousuf Yohanna were dismissed early and at 386 for seven India must have felt that they were back in the game. The 94 runs added by the eighth and ninth wicket pairs — Kamal and Shoaib Akhtar first and Kamal and Umar Gul later — in the end proved decisive.
With a big lead behind them, the Pakistan attack literally blew away the Indian top order after a needless run out of the Indian captain Rahul Dravid in the last over before tea.
With this run out, the match slowly turned into a near replica of the first Test in Multan, which India won. Only this time, the roles were reversed with Pakistan on the ascendancy.
The outcome of the match is likely to come on day four, with Indian opener Virender Sehwag on 86, which included 14 fours, in company of Parthiv Patel, holding out with 13.
During the day, Shoaib steamed in to bowl some express deliveries and his dismissal of Aakash Chopra with the Indians at 15 for two triggered the collapse.
Dravid lasted just one ball before he walked back to the pavilion. Sehwag pushed the ball to short cover and called for a run. Imran Farhat swooped in on the ball and managed an amazing direct hit which left Dravid inches out.
Much was expected of Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and Yuvraj at this stage. But their shortcomings to the seaming deliveries were exposed by Muhammad Sami and Umar Gul.
Tendulkar was once again trapped leg before, playing back to an angling ball on the middle and leg, and Laxman’s lack of footwork was exploited by Gul with a delivery that beat him for pace and seam, leaving his off stump bent. While wickets fell, freewheeling Sehwag carried on merrily to keep the scoreboard ticking.
With Yuvraj also getting into the mood, opening his account with a straight drive to the boundary, things looked up briefly for India.
But once again Sami produced a beauty to lure Yuvraj into playing a stroke away from his body. The ball left the batsmen late and the feather touch was accepted by Kamran Akmal. Only some determined batting by Sehwag and Patel took the match into the fourth day.
