India A fight back

GWALIOR, JAN 24: In two short, searing spells today, Wasim Akram shook the India A batting line-up to its bones and took home five wicket...

GWALIOR, JAN 24: In two short, searing spells today, Wasim Akram shook the India A batting line-up to its bones and took home five wickets. But, he still finished the day an unhappy man. After shutting out the hosts 58 runs behind Pakistan, Akram watched in disbelief as his batsmen tumbled in a heap to end the second day of this three-day tie at 107 for five.

The dramatic twist in the script had the thinly spread crowd here screaming for more as Dodda Ganesh and Laxmi Ratan Shukla struck in tandem. Pakistan were gasping at 23-5, before they leaned on that old firm of Inzamam and Salim Malik to give them some sense of relief with an unbeaten sixth wicket stand of 84.

If Baroda bat Jacob Martin8217;s focussed 71 shored up India A, it was a sharply improved performance from Ganesh and Shukla that underlined Pakistan8217;s growing batting worries. Unlike yesterday, Ganesh pitched it that extra yard up and Shukla slipped in a few straight ones to go with his favourite in-cutters. The combined effect was lethal asPakistan discovered from the fifth ball of their second innings.

Opener Saeed Anwar failed to click again, nudging a Ganesh inswinger down the leg side to keeper Saba Karim. Akram, not anticipating the collapse, added to the confusion by sending Moin Khan ahead of yesterday8217;s century man Yousuf Youhanna at No 3. Moin failed and so did Youhanna.

Just when the Indian juniors thought they were through Inzamam took over. It was almost as if he had slept through the disaster. The tension dimmed after a couple of those patent swings to mid-wicket and two superbly timed off-drives off Harbhajan.

Still, it was a great day8217;s work from this Indian side, the base for which was laid early in the morning by Martin. He slipped into the lead role unobtrusively after Khurasia had cornered the applause with a flashy 41, including a cover-driven six off Waqar.

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan 1st inn: 334 for six decl

India A 1st inn overnight 63 for two: VVS Laxman c Wasti b Akram 2, S.Ramesh c Moin Khan b Akram17, Debang Gandhi c Youhanna b Waqar 30, Amay Khurasia c Akhtar b Akram 41, Jacob Martin lbw Akram 72, Sitangshu Kotak c Akram b Mushtaq 12, Saba Karim camp;b Mushtaq 28, L.R Shukla st Moin Khan b Mushtaq 14, D.Ganesh lbw Akram 0 5b, Harbajan Singh c Wasti b Akhtar 16, Rahul Sanghvi not out 3; Extras: 27 nb, 2 lb, 12 b 41. Total: all out, 60.3 overs 276

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Fall Of Wickets: 1-10 Laxman, 2.2, 2-31 6.1, Ramesh, 3-92 Khurasia, 22, 4-100 Gandhi, 23.5, 5-155 Kotak, 38.5, 6-207 Karim, 49, 7-243 Shukla, 54.3, 8-246 Ganesh, 56.1, 9-270 Harbhajan, 59.2

Bowling: Akram 12.3-3-55-5, Waqar 14-3-65-1, Akhtar 11-0-52-1, Saqlain 12-1-44-0, Mushtaq 11-2-46-3.

Pakistan 2nd inn: Saeed Anwar c Karim b Ganesh 4, Wajahatullah Wasti b Shukla 0, Moin Khan c Laxman b Ganesh 2, Yousuf Youhanna c Karim b Shukla 0, Inzamam-ul-Haq batting 60, Mushtaq Ahmed c Karim b Shukla 8 11b, 2215;4, Salim Malik batting 22 84b, 2215;4. Extras: 11 lb 2, nb 9 Total: for 5 wkts, 35overs 107

Fall Of Wickets: 1-4 Anwar, 0.5, 2-6 Wasti, 1.4, 3-8 Youhanna, 3.4, 4-8 Moin, 4.5, 5-23 Mushtaq, 7.5

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Bowling: Ganesh 10-2-37-2, Shukla 10-4-17-3, Harbhajan 10-1-31-0, Sanghvi 5-2-20-0.