Related Links : Pakistan’s Tour of India : Scorecard
India had a tremendous opening session on the second day with Sourav Ganguly still holding his crease. The visitors struggling with just the three frontline bowlers could end the session taking just the one wicket while conceding 96 runs in 27 overs. Ganguly is looking determined to notch up his first double century of his career. He has got himself to 169 (from 279 balls with 23 fours) and his team to 461 for 6 in 117 overs at lunch.
The third and final Test which is a must win match for Pakistan to draw this 3-Test Series seems to be slipping away from their hands. The Indians have already done most of their work in batting the visitors out of the Test. The pitch has some sideways movement but at the same time once the moisture evaporates under the sun, batting looks quite easy. The problem that the Pakistani batsmen will face is the indifferent bounce in the track. There have been plenty of deliveries that have kept really low!
Pakistan had Shoaib Akhtar on the field this morning but without any purpose. The fast bowler is not allowed to bowl until 1:40 PM as he was out of the ground yesterday because of an internal injury (back spasms). Pak could have got an early wicket that of an out of form Dinesh Karthik but Umpire Rudi Koertzen gave a life to the batsman. Karthik padded up to an inswinger from Sami outside the offstump but was very lucky that the Umpire decided to give the benefit of doubt to the batsman. Karthik eventually got dismissed after the drinks break as he poked at an away going delivery from Yasir Arafat. He made just 24 (from 70 balls with 3 fours) but he shared a significant partnership of 66 with Sourav Ganguly.
After Karthik’s dismissal, Ganguly found another perfect ally in Irfan Pathan and both lefties carried on to make the Pakistani bowlers suffer. Ganguly has added 44 runs to his overnight score of 125 while Pathan has helped himself to 18 from 37 balls with 3 fours. India will be looking to bat out the second session and perhaps declare an hour after the tea break. The Pakistani bowling attack has looked wafer thin and doesn’t hold many hopes of bowling out India cheaply atleast in the second innings. Sami, Arafat and Kaneria have all bowled almost 30 overs each and have been taken for centuries.