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Journalism of Courage
Watch the first guy, he will show what true Test cricket is all about; and the man standing beside him will make you realise how vast has been the influx of the shorter version into Tests. Quite like Dilip Kumar and Shahrukh Khan, maybe, or, to stretch the imagination, like Tom and Jerry, two genres of two worlds8212;but that pair in the cricketing world is very much VVS Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni batting together.
Through their co-existence of 28.5 overs, Laxman found the timing and Dhoni gave the thrust; the elegance of the Hyderabadi matching with brute power sweeping from Jharkhand. But all good things do come to an end, and this 115-run partnership too terminated when Dhoni was caught behind off Kaneria 31 minutes before the forced close of play. But by then, riding through this little battle between flair and force, Team India had mounted a fightback to end Day Two today at 228 for 6, and start the third day three runs away from the Pakistan score.
Rahul Dravid was in supreme touch to draw cover-drives straight from the manuals while Wasim Jaffer looked exquisite within his flicks. Add to that skipper Shoaib Malik8217;s opting for debutant Sohail Tanveer to start proceedings at the other end to Shoaib Akhtar. The debutant sprayed the ball, and the decent turnout of spectators loved the frills attached with balls bowled too full and on the legs.
Dravid hit three in one over, and Jaffer joined in the fun in the following over to cream a few from his six hits in a knock of 32.
Akhtar bowled well in his first spell in Test cricket after January 2006, and Mohammad Sami, who last played this January, too bent his back8212;beating the bat frequently but never really threatened their tenure at the crease as India had lunch at 46 for 1. Pakistan retained their hunger8212;for wickets; Akhtar returned after the initial burst of five and trapped Jaffer within his next three-over spell.
Sachin Tendulkar walked in, sneaked a single for himself, ran one for his partner and slipped, turned in pursuit of another, stopped, ran a few paces and then returned midway to finish two inches short of his crease.
What was 71/2, became 73/3, in just two balls. Tanveer then came back to register Sourav Ganguly as his maiden Test wicket as the India No 5 nudged at the ball tentatively to find an inner edge onto the stumps. Dravid added to his tally by closing his blade a little too early while playing across the line to miss it completely.
India were looking down the barrel at 93/5 in 27.5 overs. A lot of water had seeped through in 38 deliveries and it looked more of a levelled contest where the pitch played no role whatsoever.
Laxman then took centrestage and used his flexi-wrists to send fielders scuttling to every part of the Ferozeshah Kotla outfield. He played two shots in the same area, one with a straight bat, and the other by closing his wrists subtly at the last moment, deriving equal runs from both.
A tight top hand on the handle, and foot to the pitch of the ball, the 33-year-old was present in sublime form to dismiss doubts on his Test future. Hard to imagine that he reflected so much within this little start, and made it difficult to choose his best from his seven shots to boundary. But it had to be that arrogant flick off Sami wide of mid-on fielder to a delivery pitched full slightly outside off.
Laxman reached his 30th half-century in 91 balls and the only time he looked to make an effort during his 172-minute stay was when he had to run between wickets.
Dhoni, at the other end didn8217;t believe in too much running either8212;not while wearing a tight right anklet. Dhoni would rather stand and hammer8212;playing his arrogant slaps towards long-on and mid-wicket in between his rather unorthodox but trademark forward defence shots. He beat Laxman to the fifty8212;in 78 balls. And just when it looked like completing a session without further fall, Dhoni stepped out wildly to Kaneria, and got a faint edge to the keeper.
Thankfully, the Indian skipper had packed his batting from England8212;where he got a century8212;and not opened it until here. He never looked uneasy while spending 24 balls for a new batsman, essentially a tail-ender at the fag end of the day. Kumble stayed put, scoring 7 along with Laxman batting fine on 57. And together, they carry hopes and crossed fingers into a fresh, and hopefully bright Saturday morning.
Earlier, Pakistan could have gone on a little further, had Misbah-ul-Haq not run himself out in such manner. Only Misbah can design such unique path to get out; the Pakistan middle-order bat progressed from his 71 to add another 11 runs before he jumped up in air to avoid a throw from Kaarthick at point without gaining his ground first and was run out.
But Team India middle-order showed it too can manage something similar.
This match is certainly not over as yet. India8217;s long batting card made less noise from the willow as they did appreciating the partnership of Laxman and Dhoni from the first floor of the pavilion.
Scoreboard
Pakistan 1st Innings Overnight: 210-8
Misbah-ul-Haq run out 82
Mohammad Sami not out 28
Danish Kaneria b Kumble 0
Extras: 6b, 12lb, 1nb, 2w 21
Total: all out, 96.2 overs 231
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-35, 3-59, 4-76, 5-83, 6-122, 7-137, 8-142, 9-229
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 20-5-45-2 1nb, 2w, Munaf Patel 24-5-61-1, Anil Kumble 21.2-6-38-4, Sourav Ganguly 14-5-28-1, Harbhajan Singh 15-1-37-1, Sachin Tendulkar 2-0-4-0
India 1st Innings
Wasim Jaffer lbw b Akhtar 32
Dinesh Kaarthick c Akmal b Akhtar 9
Rahul Dravid b Tanvir 38
Sachin Tendulkar run out 1
Sourav Ganguly b Tanvir 8
VVS Laxman batting 57
MS Dhoni st Kamal b Kaneria 57
Anil Kumble batting 7
Extras: 7b, 8lb, 3nb, 1w 19
Total: for 6 wickets, 63.2 overs 228
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-71, 3-73, 4-88, 5-93, 6-208
Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 13-2-36-2, Sohail Tanvir 19.2-4-75-2, Mohammad Sami 14-1-58-0, Danish Kaneria 17-3-44-1
