Kamal leads revival on a rainy opening day

Pakistanis 165 for 5 (Kamal 43*, Taufeeq 37, Inzamam 35) v Board President's XI
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

It wasn't the best of starts but the Pakistanis will be content that they managed to get started at all. The opening day of the their Indian odyssey had a number of elements: bad light, 2.4 overs of play, steady rain, pleasant sunshine, a sneak preview of left-handed flourish, a steady procession of soft dismissals before Asim Kamal led the revival with a typically doughty 43. The BP XI fought back whenever the scales appeared to be tilting and kept the Pakistanis down to 165 for 5 when stumps were drawn.

Its hard to imagine that any of the six previous Pakistan teams to have visited India for a full tour can have begun in such a picturesque setting. Overlooked by the snowcapped Dauladhari range, the HPCA Stadium at Dharamsala provided a perfect backdrop for the Pakistani batsmen to gain maximum momentum against a bowling attack that lost its only specialist spinner, Ramesh Powar, after he delivered four overs. Yet, four of their top five batsmen gave it away after groping their way into the groove and Younis Khan, the fifth, fell to a casual poke off the second ball he faced.

Half the day was swallowed up by bad light and incessant showers. Inzamam, on his 35th birthday, chose to bat and his openers - Taufeeq Umar and Salman Butt - were hardly troubled in the initial exchanges. Rudra Pratap Singh, the left-arm seamer, occasionally swung it away a shade and beat the bat while the other Singh - Gagandeep - was more intent on pegging away at the stumps. Both Taufeeq and Salman cashed in on the loose offerings as full balls down the pads were flicked away with Saeed Anwar-like flourish.

Powar was introduced in the 10th over and his generous flight, with the ball almost labouring to get to the other end, induced the batsmen into taking chances. Butt unleashed a ferocious straight loft to the second ball he faced with the ball rapping Powar flush on the fingers. Powar managed to finish the over but couldn't bowl for the rest of the day.

Butt, though, wasn't as lucky four balls later when Taufeeq was caught ball-watching and made no attempt to respond to his call for a second run. Butt was stranded in mid-pitch and soon started his walk back after Gangandeep's throw found the stumps. Younis might have expressed a desire to play his cricket like Imran Khan, a man who has backed him for the captaincy, but his second-ball duck wasn't the ideal beginning to a crucial tour. Younis wafted at one wide of off stump and the edge was taken brilliantly by an acrobatic Niraj Patel at second slip (55 for 2).

Yousuf Youhana's 18-ball stay had sparks of magic, moments of laziness and finally ended in a stroke that bordered on the reckless. Attempting an extravagant drive through extra cover, he misread the line from Shib Shankar Paul and inside-edged an easy catch to the wicketkeeper. Inzamam and Kamal didn't venture into any extravagant shotmaking and efficiently scored off the long-hops and wide balls. Powar's absence meant that the medium pacers were further burdened and more loose deliveries appeared as the day wore on.

Inzamam fell right at the end of the day, lbw trying to sweep the part-time spinner Venugopal Rao, as another position of strength was frittered away with an air of over-confidence. Kamal too was extremely lucky to be there at the end after surviving an extremely close appeal to a reverse-swinging Gagandeep yorker. However, Kamal, who has found himself regularly overlooked despite playing a few crucial knocks, ensured that he gritted it out till the end and will hope that the skies stay clear for him to compile a big knock tomorrow.