Pakistan v India, 2nd Test, Faisalabad, 2nd day

Dravid and Laxman lead India's reply

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Faisalabad

January 22, 2006

India 110 for 1 trail Pakistan 588 (Afridi 156, Inzamam 119, Younis 83, Yousuf 65) by 478 runs
Scorecard and ball by ball details
How they were out

Rahul Dravid steadied the ship with VVS Laxman after Sehwag's dismissal © AFP

We're almost halfway into the series and the bowlers must be thinking about the marginal role they are playing in this contest. The bat continued to hold sway on the second day of the second Test at Faisalabad with Pakistan erecting an imposing structure before India began to whittle away the deficit. Having been battered for close to a day and a half, India showed the gumption needed to wriggle out, ending the day on a healthy 110 for 1, but still a good 278 adrift of saving the follow on.

Shahid Afridi's powdered 156, his highest Test score, was the talking point of the day, but Inzamam-ul-Haq's calm century and India's response, despite the loss of Virender Sehwag, were crucial elements as well. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman shored India up, with a fine 71-run stand at the end of the day, and raised visions of reprising their heroics at Lahore. It won't be easy, especially with variable bounce on the pitch and no forecast of inclement weather, and India will need one mighty batting effort if they harbour hopes of leaving Faisalabad unscathed.

Facing a daunting 588, they began in stirring fashion, with Sehwag kick-starting the chase with a gush of fours. Not for the first time, Pakistan let him off early - Imran Farhat fluffing a chance when an edge flew to first slip - but luckily for them, it wasn't too costly. Showing that he indeed possessed the nous to bowl on this track, Abdul Razzaq, extracting some extra bounce, struck in his very second ball, inducing an edge off Sehwag's checked drive. Farhat gobbled up the chance this time and an uphill task just got steeper. Dravid and Laxman, though, countered the threat with finesse, trying to play straight and not getting bogged down, and Pakistan, for all their persistence, couldn't break through.

What had flattened India, though, was Pakistan's commanding batting performance earlier in the day with Afridi dominating the first hour, blitzing 71 off the 88 scored. He strolled into the nineties by collecting the singles, zoomed to his century with a four and a six - the most dismissive of sixes, swatting Irfan Pathan over midwicket - spread the field, tickled singles to the vacant on side, and occasionally, as if to reinforce the point that fielders don't really matter, pounded the big ones. The astonishing bit was that the last 99 runs, in an innings which appeared uncharacteristically restrained on the surface, came off a mere 61 balls. Yet he found time to block a few and, believe it or not, to even let some go.

An Afridi innings is bound to be remembered for it's swatted sixes but the final four here will be tough to forget. Dashing down the track like an angered bull, even before the ball had left Irfan Pathan, he gave himself a bit of room, lined up and went wham. The ball wasn't too far away from Rudra Pratap Singh, fielding at long-off, but just as he begun his sprint, the ball thundered into the advertising hoardings, making a noise that couldn't even be silenced by the ballistic crowd. It underscored the savagery; it gave an indication, for the fourth time in as many Tests, of the helplessness that Afridi can induce.

At the other end, almost invisible for most part, was Razzaq, in his dogged avatar. His five fours were like trickles amid the flood but the 37 was crucial in not allowing India any early wickets, thwarting their bid to claw back into the contest. What really hurt them, though, was Inzamam's solidity. Batting with a runner, having missed more than an hour's play this morning, he punched his way to his third consecutive hundred on this ground. With a strained back, he fortified an already impressive structure, until he was undone by a corker from Zaheer Khan, and shepherded the lower order along.

Support arrived from Shoaib, who had a frolicking time en route to 47, his highest Test score, and reaffirmed his status as one of the most improved tail-end batsmen in the last few months. For 21 balls, he didn't score; all of a sudden he summoned the strength to blast three sixes and five fours, getting close to his first international fifty. Expectedly, he tried to bring it up in a blaze of glory, going for one slog too many off Zaheer, and walked off pretty distraught. It was a minor triumph for Zaheer, returning to the side after nearly four months and claiming three wickets on a featherbed. If not for him and RP Singh, snapping up four wickets in a memorable debut, India might have been staring, not only at a bigger total, but a far more demoralising position.

How they were out

Shahid Afridi c Yuvraj b Kumble 156 (467 for 5)
Top-edged a hoick to square leg

Kamran Akmal c Sehwag b Kumble 0 (469 for 6)
Holed out slogging to midwicket

Abdul Razzaq c Dhoni b RP Singh 37 (509 for 7)
Went after a wide one and edged

Inzamam-ul-Haq c Dhoni b Zaheer 110 (567 for 8)
Squared up by a corker of an away cutter and feathered an edge

Shoaib Akhtar c Harbhajan b Zaheer 47 (584 for 9)
Flayed uppishly; caught at deep extra cover

Danish Kaneria b Kumble 0 (588 all out)
Cleaned up by a faster one that kept a shade low

India

Virender Sehwag c Farhat (sub) b Razzaq 31 (39 for 1)
Tried to punch one that lifted off a length; straight to first slip

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is staff writer of Cricinfo

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