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Dull draw or exciting finish?

Ishant did exceedingly well in the post-lunch session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as he polished off the Pakistan tail forcing an early tea.

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The ball is now in skipper Anil Kumble’s court — whether to go for a sporting declaration, or play it safe on the final day

BANGALORE: There was an unmistakable buoyancy in the Pakistan camp. Two wickets down for virtually nothing on the board for India, Pakistan players as if had discovered a spring in their feet.

Shoaib Akhtar appeared more menacing than at any point of time in the series. The body language of his colleagues was aggressive. Seven fielders surrounded the batsmen. Skipper Younis Khan was smelling blood.

The third and final Test, which was meandering into a drab draw, had, suddenly, come alive.

“Yes, we thought, we had a chance,” Geoff Lawson, Pakistan coach, was to say later. “We still think we’ve a chance. We’re ready to chase 320 in 68 overs.”

The question is, are India game to the challenge? Already 1-0 up, will the hosts make a sporting declaration to make it 2-0?

The answer could be anybody’s conjecture but India weathered the evening storm to end the fourth day at a comfortable 131 for two — thanks to an impeccable, unbeaten 63 from Sourav Ganguly — for an overall lead of 220 runs after the home team discovered an unlikely bowling hero in an unheralded Ishant Sharma.

The gangly Delhi lad finished with a five-wicket haul in only his second Test.

From this stage, every result is possible — a win for India, a win for Pakistan, an exciting draw, or a tame draw. It is all in the mind of the captains. Rather, the Indian captain.

Day 4 began rather tamely with Indian bowlers failing to make inroads into the rival camp. Pakistan comfortably averted the follow-on with Kamran Akmal (65) completing his half-century and Misbah-ul-Haq (133 not out) smashing his second century of the series.

The 33-year-old middle order batsman even looked set to take his team’s score past India’s total of 626, but Ishant had other ideas.

In a spell of six overs in the post-lunch session, he ran through the Pakistan tail, returning figures of 6.1-2-9-4 for an overall analysis of 5 for 118.

The 19-year-old pacer could not have timed his showing better, just a day before the national selectors are to meet to pick the squad for the tour of Australia.

He bowled fast and extracted good bounce from the lifeless wicket. As he would say later, he changed his line and length to attack the Pakistan batsmen.Pakistan were all out for 537, an 89-run first innings deficit.

India began disastrously, losing opener Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer with only 26 on the board. A few more wickets, and it could have spelt doom for the home team, but Ganguly and Rahul Dravid denied the visitors any further success.

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