KARACHI, 28 November 2006 — Having won the toss and opting to bat first on a placid, batsman-friendly wicket, Pakistan squandered away the advantage and were restricted to 257 for seven at close of play on the first day of the third and final Test against West Indies here yesterday.
When fading light forced the closure after 87 overs were bowled there was not much batting left for the home team with wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal (18) and Shahid Nazir (0) at the crease and two bowlers to follow.
The biggest disappointment for Pakistan was skipper Inzamam ul-Huq himself, who for the fourth time in this series failed to find his elusive form and finally fell to innocuous off-spin of Daren Ganga for 18 compiled from 64 deliveries. It was more than obvious that Inzamam was struggling all the time and at no stage looked is real self.
Had it not been for the prolific Mohammad Yousuf, for whom the year 2006 has been the best of his glorious career, Pakistan would have been in real trouble as all other batsmen found themselves struggling against the disciplined pace attack of Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore , Dwayne Bravo and Daren Powell.
The National Stadium wicket was lifeless, with almost no pace and bounce. The strategy of the Pakistan camp was to blunt the better, more penetrating West Indian pace attack. A day before the match, on Sunday morning there was a reasonable layer of grass and Lara looked quite satisfied with the state of strip. But the same evening the curator was instructed to remove anything which even looked like grass. With a 1-0 lead in the three-match series the home team’s battle cry was “play safe”. Obviously the Oval controversy still fresh in the minds of the Pakistan media and cricket fans, Inzamam and coach Bob Woolmer were not ready to face defeat — and that also at home.
But quite often playing safe upsets the applecart. And apparently Inzamam’s strategy seems to have backfired as 257 runs scored off 87 overs at the cost of seven wickets is not a very satisfactory situation.
The West Indians, for their part, did most of the things right in the field. In a match they must win to level the series, it would have been easy to lose heart after seeing the way the ball behaved in the first couple of overs — there was no swing and very little bounce — but they fought on.
Brian Lara often employed unorthodox fields: recognizing that the edges to the slips might not carry, he reduced the slip cordon early on, instead using the short midwicket and short cover to try and snaffle the miscues.
Pakistan made no change in the team that drew in Multan but West Indies surprised many by including Ramnaresh Sarwan at the cost of the only specialist spinner, Dave Mohammad.
Pakistan started badly, losing opener Mohammad Hafeez when the total was 26. The opener once again failed to carry on after making a good start. Collymore, who was unlucky, getting only one wicket in the first two Tests, gave his side the early breakthrough. Vice-captain Younis Khan did not last long and was run out at the score of 72.
Had it not been for yet another masterly hundred by Yousuf Pakistan would have been worse. Other than Yousuf, opener Imran Farhat contributed a useful 47 but apparently lost patience and edged an in-cutter from Bravo to Denesh Ramdin.
But Yousuf stood firm while wickets fell at regular intervals from the other end. He went on to score his 22nd Test hundred which was compiled with the help of 15 boundaries off 155 balls. Requiring 148 at the start of the day to equal Viv Richards’s record of most runs in a calendar year, Yousuf reduced the deficit to just 46, but his dismissal for 102 gave West Indies the edge, as they fought spiritedly in the field to restrict Pakistan to 257 for 7.
But on way to his 102, Yousuf also achieved the distinction of scoring his eighth consecutive from 11 Test during this year This was also his third consecutive century against West Indies.
Yousuf found his rhythm and timing with amazing ease. While others, including Inzamam, Younis and Abdul Razzaq struggled to get the ball off the square, Yousuf creamed boundaries almost at will before missing a pull shot off Corey Collymore later in the last session of the day’s play.
For the visitors, Collymore and Bravo got two wickets each, Taylor and Ganga got one each.
