Irfan Pathan today experienced both the high and the low of international cricket. Having picked just two tailenders from his 23 overs in the first innings and been put to the sword by man of the day Mohammad Ashraful, Pathan came back to pick the first five wickets in Bangladesh’s second innings to take India to just one a wicket away from the expected 2-0 sweep. With the morning belonging to Ashraful, for the first time in the series Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly had a few worry lines on his forehead. Pathan and Zaheer Khan were bowling too short to be effective while Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble too weren’t quite getting the ball to talk as was expected yesterday. It was at this moment one got to know the difference between a 20-year-old potential pace sensation and a 34-year-old battle-hardened proven match winning spinner. It was Kumble who brought India into the game after Ashraful first with Habibul Bashar and then Aftab Ahmed appeared set to take Bangladesh past the follow-on mark. But once Kumble had done the needful (4 for 55), Pathan (5-32 in the second innings) took India through. Understandably therefore, despite taking seven of the 12 wickets to fall in the final session, Pathan wasn’t quite over the moon: ‘‘I have learnt a lesson,’’ was his first statement after taking his third five-wicket haul from the last four games. But figures don’t tell the story of a battle between two 20-year-olds that Pathan lost, and Ashraful won, hands down. Pathan was to blame as much as Ashraful was to be credited for the result. For much of the morning session, Pathan erred in his length, pitching short and too full in turn, allowing Ashraful to drive and pull at will. The result was that after picking 11 wickets in the first Test, Pathan had to wait till the 89th over to get his first wicket. But when Pathan struck finally off successive deliveries — Talha Jubair in the first innings and then Nafis Iqbal off the first delivery in the second — he was homing in on his third hat-trick chance in three innings. This time too, however, Pathan missed out, sending his first delivery of the Bangla second innings way down the leg side. Having bowled five straight overs before the between-innings break, Pathan was entitled to feel tired, but the Baroda boy was charging in with purpose in the second innings: ‘‘Dada (Ganguly) asked us (bowlers) if we would be tired, but all of us were ready. Another thought was that the roller to be used between innings would break up the pitch,’’ Pathan said. That showed for he trapped Iqbal leg before off the very first ball of the innings, proving he had indeed learnt his lesson. There was a definite improvement in Pathan’s bowling as he made the batsmen play more often and pitched the ball up much more. ‘‘I was more relaxed maybe,’’ Pathan said, and while Javed Omar’s wicket was lucky, with Mohammed Rafique and Aftab Ahmed, he showed the value of swinging the ball subtly and making batsmen play. His last victim Habibul Bashar too fell to the typical Pathan inswing as Bangladesh were pushed against the wall from where there seems to be no way out. SCOREBOARD
