Scorecard

At the end of play on Day 1, I had perceived that the Indians would not find it easy batting in their first innings and Pakistan pretty much had a great day today to knock the stuffing out of the Indian batting line-up, ending the day’s play at 228/6 with Laxman remaining unbeaten on 57.

Earlier in the day, India restricted Pakistan to 231, after a rather bizarre dismissal of Misbah-Ul-Haq, who has also now developed the knack of getting out in the craziest of ways. Misbah was out for 82, when he was “jumped out” by Dinesh Karthik.

Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid were timing the ball well and looked in control before Jaffer was trapped in front by Akhtar. You could normally expect either Jaffer to get out cheaply or go on to play a big innings and today, he had a good start and looked set for a nice long haul but was stung by the pace of Akhtar. What followed was Sachin then misjudging a run and was gleefully run out by a rather sharp Mohammed Yousuf. Dravid looked brilliant when he came in, spanking boundaries all over and looked aggressive. Mohammed Sami troubled Dravid quite a bit but in the end, it was Sohail Tanvir, who knocked his stumps, after a miserable first spell where Dravid had punished him severely. Ganguly was quickly picked up by Tanvir with a peach of a ball coming in to knock his stumps.

With the score reading 93/5, it looked like Pakistan may even end up with a slender first innings lead.

Laxman and Dhoni – Took India away from murky waters

With the batting line-up demolished and left in tatters, Laxman and Dhoni put up a 115 run partnership to take India to the 200 mark. Laxman oozed all class with his superb straight drives and those trademark all-wrist onside shots, which were beautifully dispatched to the boundary. Dhoni played intelligently as usual, picking up several sharp singles and hammered any loose delivery to the boundary. Dhoni, who made a fine 57, was finally outsmarted by Danish Kaneria who got him to knick the ball to the keeper, while charging down the track. Somehow it was felt that Dhoni after he got his fifty was moving about the track a bit too much and perhaps could have simmered down.

Shoaib Malik – Interesting field positions

I quite liked the field positions set by Shoaib Malik, especially when Dhoni was batting. Dhoni tends to get most of his runs in a “V” shaped pattern from the wicket and Malik placed his fielders quite appropriately. Without these intelligent field placements, I could say that perhaps Dhoni might have ended up getting a lot more runs.

Shoaib Akhtar – Once again looked sharp

With a few yards in pace dropping and his dwindling stamina, Akhtar still was the pick of the bowlers. He bowled in short 3 over spells and picked up the crucial breakthroughs. It is a bit crazy isn’t it, considering that as a batsman you only have to weather 3 odd overs and you can have a long peaceful session after that. It is quite amazing to see Akhtar always looking close to pick up a wicket every time he bowls in that short spell.

Will India’s tail wag?

It would be interesting to see on day 3 how well the Indian tail wags. Anil Kumble “fresh” (LOL ) after his hundred in his last test is with Laxman. Hopefully, if India could look to put up a 100 run lead, then the match is back on for India. As of now, Pakistan has done brilliantly well to pull it back.

To sum up so far this rather extraordinarily progressing match, would be Dhoni’s thoughts… that the reason for 16 wickets falling quickly would be a combination of some rash shots, some good bowling and some on the unpredictable bounce of the wicket. He did though tell that it was not a bad wicket to bat on as of now and would only become difficult in the coming days. Rest be assured, we certainly do have a game on our hands.