NEW DELHI, November 25:
India were trailing by 31 runs when umpires called for stumps on Day 4 of the first Test against Pakistan here at Feroz Shah Kotla ground on Sunday. Former skippers Sachin Tendulkar (32) and Sourav Ganguly (48) came to the crease almost together as India lost - Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid - in space of six overs. The duo is sharing unbeaten 78-run partnership.
The moment Master Blaster crossed Allan Border's 11,174 runs he became second highest run-getter in the Tests. Now he is only behind Brian Lara's 11953. However, Shoaib Akhtar was the pick of the Pakistan bowler as he cracked all-three wickets - Dinesh Karthik, Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid.
The Pakistan ace spearhead had jolted India in the very first over of the innings by scalping Dinesh Karthik, who got a nick off him and was caught behind the stumps by Kamran Akmal when India's score was just 2.
The pacer scalped Wasim Jaffer, who was caught by Salman Butt at square leg in the 28th over of the second innings. That was a very big wicket for Pakistan as Jaffer, who struck his 9th Test fifty, was building a very good partnership with the former India skipper Rahul Dravid.
The duo weathered the early storm and added 82 runs for the second wicket to push India to 84/2. And within the space of six overs, he again struck and breached The Wall for mere 34 runs reducing India to 93/3.
That would have been proved a turning point but Sachin and Sourav put brave face and steer home side away from possible collapse. Live Scorecard Full Coverage Day 3: Match report Moments Players to Watch On Day 3, the visitors managed to get a lead of 167 runs.
They closed the day at 212 with five wickets in hand. If India want to get control over the series opener Test then they must get rid of the remaining Pakistan batsmen within the first session.
After winning the toss on Thursday, Pakistan decided to bat first and put 231 on the board. In their reply, India managed to take slight lead of 45 runs as the hosts were bowled out for 276. In the first innings of the game Misbah-ul-Haq was the only batsman who crossed fifty and went on to made 82 with six fours and a six.
Anil Kumble was the chief destroyer as he grabbed four wickets and gave just 38 runs in 21.2 overs he bowled. VVS Laxman proved the suffix he got before his name - very very special Laxman - as was remained unbeaten at 72 and was responsible of two good partnership - 115-runs with MS Dhoni and 54-run with Anil Kumble - that helped India to take an advantage over their archrivals.
The other two Tests will be played in Kolkata and Bangalore.
By shamsheer (TofI)
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