Related Links : Pakistan’s Tour of India : Scorecard
Anil Kumble’s first day as the Test Match Captain was a roller coaster ride with Pakistan plunging into deep trouble on the first day at the Kotla. Pakistan however could recover from a hopeless situation towards the end of the day’s play but they have a long way to go if they have to start competing in the first test match at Delhi. Bad light brought a slightly premature end to the day’s play with Pakistan sitting at 210 for the loss of 8 wickets in 85.4 overs. An unbroken ninth wicket partnership of 68 between Misbah-ul-Haq (71) and Mohammad Sami has got the Pakistani first innings in some sort of a shape.
Pakistan had won the toss and they decided to bat first under foggy conditions with some moisture expected in the wicket. The pitch was expected to be on the drier side with hardly anything for the pace bowlers once the moisture dried off. Shoaib Malik lost his fast bowler Umar Gul ahead of the match because of a back problem which gave way to Sohail Tanvir’s Debut. For India, it was a two pacers and two spinners line-up. Zaheer Khan provided an early breakthrough by cleaning up Salman Butt in the 5th over with a sharp incoming delivery. Salman Butt (1 from 20 balls) could have got onto the frontfoot to cover up for the extra movement which clearly caught him unaware. India always had a problem dismissing the two Ys that is Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. But today, they were lucky enough to see the back of Younis Khan (7 from 19) early after the Pakistani Vice-Captain played a rash hook shot that went straight into the hands of Munaf at fine leg. It was once again Zaheer Khan taking the wicket with Pakistan at a shaky 35 for 2. Mohammad Yousuf, the best batsman for the visitors joined Yasir Hameed, who got himself to a start. However in the 22nd over, Yasir Hameed was found out of class against the Indian Captain who had foxed him with a googly. Yasir (29 from 66 with 4 fours) went for a booming cover drive exposing a big bat pad gap for the googly to disturb his timber. At lunch, Kumble was a satisfied man as he could get Pak reduced to 74 for 3 in 28 overs.
The Indian bowling was top notch with Munaf Patel complementing the efforts of Zaheer and then the pair of Kumble and Ganguly sustaining the pressure on the batsmen. After lunch, Kumble surprised everyone by opening the bowling with Sourav and that move did the trick. Mohammad Yousuf got a beautiful inswinger that rapped him up infront of the stumps with its sharp movement in the air to end a promising innings. Yousuf (27 from 43 with 5 fours) fell in the second over of the second session as the Indians were overjoyed seeing the back of Pakistan’s two best batsmen. The next ball, Ganguly should have got Shoaib Malik for a first ball duck but the Umpire instead gave the benefit of doubt to the batsman after he was struck just marginally infront of the offstump. Malik couldn’t cash in though as he was soon forced to nick a fantastic delivery from Munaf that angled in and deviated just a fraction away with some extra bounce to catch the outside edge. Malik was out for a duck although he faced 12 deliveries which was a serious dent to his confidence as a player and Captain. By now Pak lost half of its side with just 83 on the board.
The next wicket for India took some time with an out of form Kamran Akmal finding his touch with some positive intent while, Misbah-ul-Haq was solid in his defence against both the pacers and the spinners. Kamran started to stroke the ball freely but his innings was cut short by the clever Anil Kumble. Kamran Akmal (30 from 50 with 5 fours) was deceived in the length as he did the cardinal mistake of going onto the backfoot to a quicker one from Kumble that just skidded off the turf to strike the sticks. Most of the Pakistani batsmen were clearly not looking classy enough to pick the variations from the Indian bowlers’ hands. A few minutes after Kamran Akmal’s dismissal, Harbhajan joined the party by trapping Sohail Tanvir infront of the middle and leg stump with his quicker one. And just a few balls later an uninterested Shoaib Akthar slogged his way back to the pavilion to have Pak in the dumps at 142 for 8. It was Kumble hitting the stumps with a bull’s eye as he got rid of Shoaib Akhtar with a simple straight delivery. The visitors batted themselves out of the Test by Tea at 142 for 8 in 56 overs.
Mohammad Sami making his comeback in the Pakistani team played his natural game which is to bat defensively and allow the better batsman to take control of the game. It was a complete contrast to the efforts of Shoaib Akhtar from Sami as he kept of defending and defending while Misbah-ul-Haq opened his shoulders to get some vital runs to get his side past a paltry total. Soon the Indians started to struggle to break this partnership as this was only a first day track with not much of help for the bowlers. The ball was coming onto the bat slowly giving plenty of time to make all the adjustments and a sensible partnership between Misbah and Sami showed how to bat on a flat track to their top order. The Indians had taken the second new ball in the 81st over which started to some work however Zaheer and Munaf couldn’t find the luck to get the wickets. There was one opportunity that had gone down begging with Harbhajan dropping a full blooded pull shot from Misbah at mid wicket towards the fag end of the day’s play. The entire day’s play was held under hazy conditions and by 4:30 local time, the natural light faded quickly for the Umpires to offer the light to the batsmen. Misbah finished with a career best and also a maiden half century, scoring a patient 71 from 204 balls with 5 fours and a straight six off Harbhajan. Sami has survived 77 balls scoring 20 which includes two fours and a six off Ganguly. All the Indians bowlers did a good job to take eight wickets on the first day itself although conditions weren’t all that easy. It was just a bit of movement off the track that they cash on and some poor cricket from the batsmen that made India’s day.
Looking forward in this test match, India have got themselves in a great position to win this match. A solid batting performance from its batsmen should put Pakistan out of the match. The pitch is expected to play safe for the batsmen and for Pakistan to get back into the game, something special will have to come from its bowlers, in particular from Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria.