Finally a contest, not a con

When the umpires offered light to the Indian batsmen this evening, they accepted it eagerly 8212; perhaps a bit too eagerly. They cannot, h...

When the umpires offered light to the Indian batsmen this evening, they accepted it eagerly 8212; perhaps a bit too eagerly. They cannot, however, be faulted for that: A day that had begun with India on top ended with Pakistan beginning to wrest back the initiative.

As of now the match is evenly placed 8212; India, in reply to the hosts8217; 245, were 74/4 8212;but the irony of the situation lies in the two men at the crease. Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh have long been jockeying for a sole slot in the middle order; now, both have their best chance to impress the selectors.

It won8217;t be easy, going by today8217;s play. Though only the first couple of hours of play are beneficial for the bowlers, the fact is that tomorrow morning Shoaib Akhtar and his two lieutenants will be refreshed and raring to go. And the ball is only 16 overs old.

But India can take valuable lessons from the way Kamran Akmal played today. Akmal8217;s innings, which almost overshadowed Pathan8217;s first-over hat-trick and which, though lacking the drama, may yet prove to be the more significant as the match progresses, was a reflection of the man8217;s character and the determination to see his team out of trouble.

As India squandered the early advantage, there was little they could do to stop Akmal from scoring at will. The Indian bowling seemed to lack the bite of those early overs and Pathan himself, though he ended with a five-for, seemed in awe of his own feat.

In contrast, Shoaib Akhtar is looking like he has never bowled better, every second delivery pitching exactly outside the off-stump to the horror of the Indians. The ball that thumped Sachin Tendulkar8217;s helmet and left the master batsman dazed was a perfect example of how lethal Akhtar can be.

So, as Ganguly and Yuvraj plan their innings here, they will have to first tackle the pace battery and see off the shine before thinking of overtaking Pakistan8217;s total. As if that weren8217;t enough, the pitch looks deceptive with bounce uneven and pace unmeasured.

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If India can handle all of that, half the job will be done.

Both left-handers, Ganguly is currently batting on nine and Yuvraj on seven. Ganguly is batting for the first time in this Test series while Yuvraj batted in Faisalabad and failed. Both batsmen have been susceptible to quality pace, and their slots in the Test squad not justified yet.

For those with a sense of history, there8217;s more scope for pessimism. This match resembles the Kolkata Test of 1999, when India went down to Pakistan in the Asian Test Championship. Then, Srinath had demolished Pakistan early on Day 1 before another Pakistan 8217;keeper, Moin Khan, had led the fightback. Then Shoaib Akhtar8217;s pace rocked the Indians, who eventually lost despite a first innings lead.

OUT TO THE IN-CUTTER

Ask Irfan Pathan who he8217;d like to bowl to when on a hat trick and chances are he8217;ll choose Mohammed Yousuf. When India were last here, he dismissed Yousuf five times. What delivery would he choose? The in-cutter. Before Karachi, Pathan had dismissed Yousuf six times in Tests, three of those with that killer in-cutter.

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That explains what happened on Sunday when Yousuf face the final ball of Pathan8217;s first over. Yousuf should really have guessed what was in store for him. He seemed on guard for the in cutter but Pathan held the ball back, pitched it on the good length, the in-cutter deviated more than the previous delivery and Yousuf8217;s wickets stood exposed. Castle rocked, hat trick complete.

THREE OTHER IN-CUTTERS

4th ODI Lahore 2004
Yousuf Youhana lbw b Pathan 9
Good length delivery, pitched on the middle and straightened, hits Youhana on the pad plumb in front

5th ODI Lahore 2004
Yousuf Youhana lbw b Pathan 2
Trapped plumb in front, deceived by a delivery that came back in after pitching in-line

3rd Test Rawalpindi 2004
Yousuf Youhana b Pathan 13
Good-length ball straightens after pitching. Youhana moves back and defends but ball takes the inside edge and crashes into the stumps

8212; Sandeep Dwivedi

HAT-TRICK HISTORY

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8226; Pathan became the first bowler to perform a hat-trick in the first over of a Test. His hat-trick was the 36th in Tests

8226; Nuwan Zoysa8217;s hat trick against Zimbabwe at Harare in 1999-2000 was from his first three balls of the Test 8212; but his over was the second of the match

8226; Wasim Akram took two wickets of his hat-trick against Sri Lanka at Dhaka in 1998-99 in the first over of Sri Lanka8217;s second innings while the third came in the first ball of the second over

8226; Harbhajan was the first Indian bowler to achieve this feat against Australia at Kolkata in 2001. His victims were Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne

8212; S. Pervez Qaiser

SCOREBOARD

	nbsp;	Pakistan 1st Innings S Butt c Dravid b Pathan 0 I Farhat c Dhoni b Singh 22 Younis Khan lbw Pathan 0 Mohd Yousuf b Pathan 0 Faisal Iqbal lbw Zaheer 5 Shahid Afridi b Zaheer 10 Abdul Razzaq lbw Singh 45 K Akmal c Dhoni b Pathan 113 S Akhtar c Yuvraj b Pathan 45 Mohd Asif c Laxman b Singh 0 Danish Kaneria not out 0 Extras lb-2, nb-1, w-2 5 Total all out, 60.1 overs 245 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-13, 5-37, 6-39, 7-154, 8-236, 9-245. Bowling: Pathan 17.1-4-61-5, Zaheer 15-2-75-2, Singh 16-1-66-3, Ganguly 2-0-9-0, Kumble 10-1-32-0. India 1st Innings VVS Laxman b Asif 19 R Dravid c Akmal b Asif 3 V Sehwag c Akmal b Akhtar 5 S Tendulkar b Razzaq 23 S Ganguly batting 9 Y Singh batting 7 Extras lb-1, nb-7 8 Total for 4 wkts, 16 overs 74 Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-14, 3-56, 4-56 Bowling: Akhtar 6-1-26-1, Asif 7-0-29-2, Razzaq 3-1-18-1	nbsp;