Misbah, Akmal allow Pak a good night’s sleep

Six years ago, Dravid and Laxman had batted six sessions spreading across two days at this very ground to reverse the result. Today Akmal did score a timely hundred, but it was short to match those efforts — and the slight change in script five minutes before close was well appreciated by the home crowd. An interesting fourth day now awaits Pakistan with 59 away from saving the follow-on and they would want the tail to wag furiously and dodge India’s efforts to hold tight.

Akmal has a huge appetite against the Indians and four of his five Test hundreds will vouch for that — not to mention that he closed down his long lean patch today since that century against India in 2006 at Karachi. Misbah, meanwhile, has been a thorn in India’s flesh ever since his revival in international cricket. The home team had the opportunity to snatch the plate from Akmal and cut out Misbah but they reacted too late on both occasions. Munaf Patel’s gross misjudgment in reaching the ball at fine-leg fence off Zaheer Khan gave Akmal a second lease on 87, while Sachin Tendulkar’s outstretched hands at mid-wicket couldn’t latch on to Misbah’s offer on 22.

In his second Test came Anil Kumble’s first test as captain when India were sternly denied wickets after a few freebies at the start of the day, including Younis and Yousuf. Kumble kept changing his bowlers, bringing them on for short and long spells, and wondered if the last match antics can work by handing Sourav Ganguly the second new ball after 81.3 overs. Misbah was very slow to travel from 80 to his century, but he thankfully had little pressure from close-in fielders because Akmal at the other end played a few sublime cover drives. What also stood out like a sore thumb for Kumble was Munaf’s form.

The second-in-command to Zaheer in the pace department was of little help to the team, and benefited only when Younis Khan meddled atrociously to a ball that was far short and wide. The skipper bowled a tight line, Harbhajan Singh looked like himself with his teasing flight but Akmal and Misbah negated the Indian spin duo playing with soft bottom hand and bat close to the pads.

The duo bettered the previous best for the sixth wicket at Eden Gardens with quick running between the wicket and then walking up to the other to appreciate the boundary hits. Akmal took long to reach his fifty, taking 107 balls with seven hits compared to Misbah’s 64 balls, before the wicketkeeper bat took off in a hurry. He hit Zaheer and Munaf in classical mould on the frontfoot to covers and then cut Kumble and Harbhajan with precision. He hit 40 of his next set of fifty in boundaries, before bulldozing four more on way to his 119 before Harbhajan got his just reward when he sneaked in between the rare bat-pad gap. Akmal almost played a repeat of his Mohali innings where he saved the Test with his innings of 109, but this time the decisiveness of his innings will be known later.

Misbah, in the meantime, quietly inched further from his previous best at the Kotla to his century with his 10th boundary, and then celebrated much like his partner — kneeling down and landing a soft kiss to the turf, uttering thanks to the Almighty. As the Pakistan team reached their hotel after the day’s play, they lined up neatly by the elevator, allowed Misbah to enter first, then Akmal before taking their turns. The team realises their special effort, they owe it to the duo for giving them one good night’s sleep through this Test.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings 616 decl

Pakistan 1st innings:

(overnight 50/1)

S Butt c Dravid b Singh 42

Y Khan c Dhoni b Patel 43

M Yousuf b Singh 6

Misbah-ul-Haq not out 108

F Iqbal lbw Kumble 0

K Akmal b Singh 119

M Sami not out 0

Extras: (4b, 7lb, 1w, 7nb) 19

TOTAL: (6 wkts, 104 overs) 358

Fall of Wickets: 1-38, 2-77, 3-85, 4-134, 5-150, 6-357

Bowling: Khan 20.2-4-65-0, Patel 16-4-77-1, Singh 31.4-8-86-3, Kumble 27-6-81-2, Tendulkar 7-1-32-0, Ganguly 2-1-6-0