2nd Day of First Test Match between Pakistan and India is no doubt a memorable day in Cricket history of Pakistan. Pakistan playing extraordinarily well csored declared their innings at 679 for 7. When Yusaf, Inzamam and Younis had gone to pavilion in a very short interval of time, it looked very difficult for Pakistan to cross 600. But Afridi and Kamran played at such a high rate that Pakistan achieved a total of 679 in very short time.
First to go today was Muhammad Yousaf after scoring 173 runs off 199 balls only. He played at a high rate and it was difficult for Indian bowlers to stop him from scoring. He played superb drives and hit a suplendid six to Harbhajan. When he had came for batting, Younis Khan was batting at 60 runs and when he left for the pavilion he was just about 10 runs behind the score of Younis Khan. He missed a ball by Anil Kumble and was cleanly stupmed by Dhoni, a young and promising wicket-keeper of India.
After Dismissal of Yousaf, Captain came to ground. Inzamam was very unlucky that he missed the oppertunity to play a long innings on such a batting track. He could make only one run. He had tried to sweep a full ball but completely missed it. Then came Shahid Afridi to accompny Younis Khan.
Younis Khan was the unlucky person to have a run-out on 199 just one run short of his second double hundred against India. He had got first in Banglore last year in 2005. He had played softly to get a single in effort of completing 200 to a fielder and ran towards the other end. But Afridi got a collision with Anil Kumble and could’t see to Younis Khan. Before the Younis could sense that happening he got passed the 75% way towards other end and surely it was very difficult for him to reach back to his ‘home’.
Shahid Afridi started his innings somewhat in a an unusual manner. It looked he is learning the art of short selection day by day. Before lunch he was very consious and just played very slowly and sensibly. Post lunch session was a real massacre of Indian side. Afridi, after completing his 50 in 55 balls, came to his real and natural style of batting. He hit Harbhajan FOUR SIXES on first FOUR BALLS of his over– making history, and total score in that over was 27. Afridi completed his century in 78 balls with 7 mighty Sixes and 7 fours. He was caught playing a hook shot at midwicket by Harbhajan on a ball going to out side off stupm by Agarkar. When Afridi was playing wonderful innings, his partner Kamran Akmal also accompanied him. He also complted his century in only 81 balls with 2 sixes and 11 fours. He had played a lot of shots very squared to both off and on sides. When Both Afridi and Kamran were batting, it looked a twenty-twenty match being played rather than a test match. Scoring rate was 10+ at that moment. Inzamam called his players back when Kamran completed his century and announced innings declaration. At the end of day India had scored 65 runs with average of 5 runs per over in 13 overs. Rahul Dravid opened with Sehwag. Both of them specially Sehwag played some wonderful shots. India have got a good start but still there is a long way to go. They still need 414 runs to avoid the follow-on. When India were bowling, it was no doubt very tough time for their fielders and bowlers when they were continuouly hit by Pakistani Batsman. Their fielding side was looking like a bit lethargic overall though there were some very good fielding efforts made by some players. Catch taken by Ganguly of Rana Naveed-Ul-Hassan was an astonishing and great one. He got th catch while moving back and such catches are never easy to be taken.
Now since the pitch is still a batting track and India have a very long batting in its side so match is heading towards a draw. Pakistan has a strong position in a sense that they have got a high score and they cannot lose the match at this stage but if they happen to get some early wickets tomorrow and bowl extraordinarily, they can get India out two times to win the match but their batting line is not that easy to run-through it twice in three days.
FALL OF WICKETS:
- Mohammad Yousuf st Dhoni b Kumble 173 (455 for 3)
- Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw b Kumble 1 (456 for 4)
- Younis Khan run-out (Harbhajan) 199 (477 for 5)
- Shahid Afridi c Harbhajan b Agarkar 103 (647 for 6)
- Rana Naved-ul-Hasan c Ganguly b Agarkar 9 (668 for 7)