Unimpressive Pakistan outplayed by India in first Test: Hosts go 1-0 up in three-Test series

NEW DELHI, Nov 26: It took India just 38 deliveries to wrap up a convincing six-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test here at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground on Monday and to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

Needing just 32 runs at the start of the fifth and final day, India sealed their seventh consecutive win at Kotla ground since their 1992-93 victory over Zimbabwe by an innings and 13 runs.

India’s latest triumph was their third in five meetings over Pakistan.

Appropriately, the honour of striking the winning runs came Sachin Tendulkar’s way when he punched a forceful drive on the back foot to the point boundary off Shoaib Akhtar.

Tendulkar, who surprisingly has still not managed to cross the magical four-figure run mark against Pakistan (975 runs in 17 Tests), scored 24 at run-a-ball this morning to finish on 56 not out, the little master’s 83rd fifty-plus score in 141 Tests that includes a world-record 37 hundreds. The 34-year-old’s 109-ball knock was studded with nine boundaries.

Vangipurappu Laxman, the top-scorer in the first innings with a sublime 72 not out, further improved his average by finishing on an unbeaten six when the game finally ended with India making 203 for four in 61.1 overs to record their best-ever fourth-innings chase at Kotla.

For Pakistan, the match was virtually over a day before on Sunday when Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly thwarted their effort of victory with a fine partnership.

But at least Shoaib Akhtar, who took all the four wickets to fall in the second innings, still had the firepower to create a last-minute panic in the Indian camp and began with a series of short-pitched bowling on a hazy morning. Tendulkar, however, greeted him with a hook to the fine leg boundary in the very first over.

However, Shoaib’s ploy of keeping his length short paid off when Ganguly pulled a swirling top-edged catch to Sohail Tanvir down at long leg. And although Ganguly failed to add to his overnight score, his partnership with Tendulkar – 88 in slightly over 23 overs – was as critical as the Laxman-Dhoni century stand on the second day of the Test.

Anil Kumble had double cause to celebrate in his first Test as captain since he was also declared the Man-of-the-Match for his seven wickets that swelled his haul against Pakistan to 70 wickets in 13 Tests, including that unique landmark of 10 for 74 in the second innings of the previous Test against Pakistan here in 1999.

Shoaib — who bowled with his trademark hostility in a lion-hearted performance — remained the solitary shining star among the bowlers for Pakistan. Skipper Shoaib Malik’s reluctance to purvey his off-spin further complicated matters on a pitch that assisted the slow bowlers quite a bit.

Pakistan can now only look back at their performance in Kotla with regrets. They had the opportunities to spoil Kumble’s party and squandered it with both hands.

Rank bad selection of shots cost the batsmen dearly as the team failed to reach 250 in either innings.

Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, two men with proven track records all over the world, let their team down with ordinary display, mustering just 75 runs between them.

And though Misbah-ul-Haq resurrected his faltering Test career for a while with two gutsy contributions, the failure of the middle-order batting ultimately haunted Pakistan in this Test, especially at a time when the critics back home have been busy taking poor Shoaib Malik to task for his lack of runs and uninspiring leadership qualities.

The tourists need to put their act together real fast or it is icurtains for them in this fiercely competitive series.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN 1st INNS 231

INDIA 1st INNS 276)

PAKISTAN 2nd INNS 247

INDIA 2nd INNS (overnight 171-3)

D. Karthik c Akmal b Shoaib 1

W. Jaffer c Butt b Shoaib 53

R.A.Dravid b Shoaib 34

S.R.Tendulkar not out 56

S.C.Ganguly c Tanvir b Shoaib 48

V.V.S.Laxman not out 6