Second Test at Multan: Tenacious Windies keep Pakistan in check on first day

MULTAN, Nov 19: Four ‘soft dismissals’ resulted in Pakistan surrendering the advantage on the opening day of the second Test against the West Indies at Multan Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.

What should have been in reality a position of strength for Pakistan who had reached 212 for two shortly after tea, the West Indies were allowed to come back into the match as Younis Khan and the dangerous-looking Mohammad Yousuf fell to reckless strokes that could easily have been avoided.

Choosing to bat in ideal settings on virtually a featherbed of a pitch, Pakistan ended the day at 263 for four which, while appearing to be a healthy total, does not exactly give a complete sense of security to the hosts keeping in mind the flamboyance of the lower-middle order.

But with Inzamam-ul-Haq looking keen to do his hometown fans proud, Pakistan can still harbour hopes of a sizeable first innings total.

Shrugging off his recent chequered form with the bat, the skipper looked confident with the very first ball he received after being warmly applauded to the middle by a holiday turnout of about 6,000.

Inzamam, who needs runs here to regain his composure, batted 78 minutes for his unbeaten 31 which came off 64 balls. Shoaib Malik is the other batsman at the crease with four runs against his name.

The West Indies, trailing 1-0 in the series, found the going tough in the first two sessions after Inzamam beat his counterpart Brian Lara to the spin of the coin.

The visitors found the going tough on this placid track for most of the day as sun played hide and seek throughout. But it must be handed to them that they showed great commitment in the field and had the edges been held by close-in fielders, the situation would have been quite different for the home side. That the West Indies succeeded in containing Pakistan’s scoring rate can be judged by the fact that they conceded a miserly 2.89 runs per over besides managing their quota of overs within the stipulated time.

Imran Farhat, the swashbuckling left-hander, led the early onslaught and alongwith the impressive Mohammad Hafeez (36 off 66 balls, seven fours), gave Pakistan their best first-wicket stand in eight Tests.

Hafeez, the more assured of the two openers, lost his wicket when he threw his bat at Jerome Taylor but only managed to get a thick outside edge to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, some 25 minutes before lunch.

Imran, direly in need of a substantial knock to silence his detractors, scored a breezy 74 before he lost patience to edge a Dwayne Bravo delivery to Lara at second slip who took his 163rd catch in 130 Tests.

Vice captain Younis, also striving to put together his first big score in the current series, slowly found his bearings after the failure at Lahore. He shared a second-wicket stand worth 48 with Imran (74 off 158 balls, 10 fours) but it was the arrival of his trusted batting partner Mohammad Yousuf that really got the Peshawar-born batsman going.

The two ‘Ys’ dominated the proceedings from the outset and were particularly severe on medium-pacer Darren Powell who replaced the luckless Fidel Edwards in the match. But as the two closed in on yet another century partnership, Younis (56 off 128 balls, six boundaries) departed to a needless stroke as he steered a harmless ball from Taylor to Runako Morton who stretched at square gully to lap it up. It was Younis’ maiden half-century in five innings in Multan.

Loud cheers greeted skipper Inzamam as he joined in-form Yousuf in the middle. The two seasoned campaigners looked set for another fine stand when Yousuf, in a rare rush of blood, offered Lara an easy catch off Gayle who was given a long spell (22 overs) by his captain on the first day. With just three overs before the stumps, it was clearly a shock for the fans to see the experienced Lahore batsman departing in such casual manner for an otherwise well-played 56 which included three boundaries and a six off Dave Mohammad.

Pakistan opted to keep faith with the match-winning combination of Lahore Test while the West Indies sprang a major surprise when they announced their vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan would be the 12th man.

The official word from the West Indian camp was that Sarwan – the third highest run-getter (4233 in 64 Tests) in the current squad behind Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul – has been ‘dropped’ rather than being ‘rested’. In the post-day media briefing, Lara reasoned that the team picked for this game was the ‘best combination’ and there was nothing unexpected about the changes made for the Test. Sarwan’s exclusion enabled Morton to earn his sixth Test cap.

On a day when Powell lacked control in his first international match since March this year, Corey Collymore was his ususal impeccable self maintaining fine line and length. His 16 overs cost just 23 runs and he conceded just one boundary – to Younis in his 13th over, but wickets continued to elude him.

Taylor was once again the best bowler for the tourists. He could have taken three wickets but Daren Ganga, fielding in the point region, failed to hold a sitter off Yousuf on 45.

Earlier, in a magnanimous gesture at the beginning of the day, Lara requested Chanderpaul to lead West Indies into the field on his 100th Test appearance.

PAKISTAN 1st innings

M. Hafeez c Ramdin b Taylor 36

Imran Farhat c Lara b Bravo 74

Younis Khan c Morton b Taylor 56

Mohammad Yousuf c Lara b Gayle 56

Inzamam-ul-Haq not out 31

Shoaib Malik not out 4

EXTRAS: (B-1 LB-3 NB-2) 6

TOTAL: (for 4 wickets, 91 overs) 263

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-83 2-125 3-212 4-250

To bat: Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Danish Kaneria

Bowling: Taylor 15-2-61-2, Collymore 16-5-23-0, Powell 12-2-50-0 (NB-1), Gayle 22-6-52-1, Bravo 14-5-30-1 (NB-1), Mohammad 11-1-39-0, Morton 1-0-4-0