India were 141 for 2 in their second innnigs at stumps on day three of second cricket Test against Pakistan at Eden Gardens here on Monday.
KOLKATA: Pakistan fought back gallantly but by the end of the fourth and penultimate day Monday India have established an overall lead of 301 runs, ensuring an exciting end to the second Test match here Tuesday.
Gaining a first-innings lead of 160 after Pakistan stretched their innings to 456, India at stumps were 141 for two off 36 overs in their second innings on the fourth day at the Eden Gardens. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was batting on 28 (75 minutes, 53 balls, 1x4) and Sourav Ganguly on 24 (52 minutes, 36 balls, 2x4s).
Opener Wasim Jaffer followed up his first-innings' double century with a brisk half-century (56, 108 minutes, 75 balls, 8x4s), displaying a cool temperament and classical shots.
Earlier, Pakistan fought back heroically in the first innings while replying to India's first-innings' 616 for five wickets declared.
Riding on Misbah-ul-Haq's maiden century (161 not out, 523 minutes, 351 balls, 13x4s, 1x6) and Kamran Akmal's rearguard 119, Pakistan posted an unexpectedly high score. Yet, India had a good enough lead to apply pressure on Pakistan as they went in for their knock.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took his 20th five-wicket haul - his second against Pakistan-in his 59th match, finishing with five for 122 in 45.5 overs. Only captain Anil Kumble, who captured three wickets for 122, bowled marginally more overs than him.
The match is now interestingly poised and it is for Kumble to decide when to declare Tuesday morning. His bowlers need enough overs to try and take ten Pakistani wickets for a second time. If the match ends in a draw, it would be a moral victory for Pakistan.
India's lead would have been much bigger but for the 207-run sixth-wicket stand between Misbah and Kamran that bailed Pakistan out from a precarious 150 for four.
Pakistan not only avoided the follow-on, but also gave them a fair chance of drawing the Test. The other useful contributors were Younis Khan (43), who is captaining the side in place of an injured Shoaib Malik, Salman Butt (42) and Mohammed Sami (38).
Pakistan resumed the day at 358 for six, with Misbah on 108 and Sami yet to score. The duo added 91 for the seventh wicket as Indian bowlers looked ineffective.
It took part-time bowler V.V.S. Laxman to break the partnership by dismissing Sami, caught at mid-off by Jaffer. Then the last three Pakistani wickets fell for eight runs.
India began their second innings with Jaffer continuing his fine form and Karthik, who failed to do much in the three innings so far, coming good.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, however, succumbed in trying to accelerate the scoring but not before putting on 75 runs for the first wicket.
Big-hitting Dhoni was promoted to Nop.3 ahead of Rahul Dravid to make India's intentions clear and Ganguly joined him soon and the pair scored briskly.
Ganguly, playing the 159th innings of his 98th Test before his home ground, now need only six runs to complete 6,000 runs in Tests.
During Pakistan's innings, umpire Billy Doctrove of the West Indies fell uneasy and came out in the first session with blood pressure complaint. Television umpire Amiesh Saheba of India stood for 16.2 overs before Doctrove returned in post-lunch session.
SCOREBOARD
Day Four, Second Test, India-Pakistan, Eden Gardens, Kolkata
India (1st innings): 616/5 decl.
Pakistan (1st innings, overnight 358/6):
Salman Butt c Dravid b Harbhajan 42
Yasir Hameed lbw b Kumble 21
Younis Khan c Dhoni b Patel 43
Mohammad Yousuf b Harbhajan 6
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 161
Faisal Iqbal lbw b Kumble 0
Kamran Akmal b Harbhajan 119
Mohammed Sami c Jaffer b Laxman 38
Sohail Tanvir c Dravid b Kumble 0
Shoaib Akhtar c Dravid b Harbhajan 0
Danish Kaneria b Harbhajan 0
Extras: (byes 8, leg byes 7, wide 1, no balls 10) 26
Total: (all out in 151.1 overs) 456
Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Hameed, 7.5 overs), 2-77 (Butt, 25.3), 3-85 (Yousuf, 27.5), 4-134 (Younis, 37.1), 5-150 (Faisal, 40.2), 6-357 (Akmal, 102.3), 7-448 (Sami, 145.5), 8-449 (Tanveer, 146.5), 9-452 (Akhtar, 149.3)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 25.2 8 69 0 (5nb)
Munaf Patel 21 4 85 1 (1w)
Harbhajan Singh 45.5 9 122 5 (1nb)
Anil Kumble 47 14 122 3 (3nb)
Sachin Tendulkar 7 1 32 0
Sourav Ganguly 4 1 9 0
V.V.S. Laxman 1 0 2 1
India (2nd innings):
Wasim Jaffer b Kaneria 56
Dinesh Karthik c Misbah b Kaneria 28
Mahendra Singh Dhoni batting 28
Sourav Ganguly batting 24
Extras: (leg byes 2, no balls 3) 5
Total: (for two wickets in 36 overs) 141
Fall of wickets: 1-75 (Karthik, 18.5 overs), 2-95 (Jaffer, 23.3)
Bowling:
Shoaib Akhtar 9 0 24 0 (2nb)
Sohail Tanvir 9 0 41 0 (1nb)
Mohammad Sami 5 1 28 0
Danish Kaneria 12 0 41 2
Salman Butt 1 0 5 0
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
Third umpire: Amiesh Saheba (India)
Fourth umpire: K.G. Laxminarayan (India)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)
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