BANGALORE, Dec 11: Misbah-ul-Haq continued his remarkable fairytale comeback to international cricket, posting his second straight century to help Pakistan avert the follow-on in the second consecutive Test, while leaving India on the brink of a historic series victory here on Tuesday.

Misbah followed his unbeaten 161 in last week’s second Test in Kolkata with an unblemished 133 not out off 322 balls as Pakistan made 537 in response to India’s first-innings score of 626 on the penultimate day of the third and final Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

With a handy lead of 89 runs already in the bank, India then extended that advantage to 220 by finishing the day at 131-2 in their second innings, built upon an unbroken stand of 105 between former captains Rahul Dravid (35) and Saurav Ganguly (63) after openers Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir had gone cheaply.

Shoaib Akhtar, who badly needs to redeem himself being limited to mere 10 overs in the first innings courtesy muscle spasms in his back, produced a torrid opening spell and finally picked up his first wicket of the match with a slower delivery that hit the top of Gambhir’s off stump.

Jaffer departed in a replica of his first innings’ dismissal; leg-before-wicket in Yasir Arafat’s second over for 18, striking the opener’s toes as the ball kept low.

But Dravid and Ganguly then negotiated the remaining overs in contrasting styles. Ganguly, the aggressive partner with scores of 48, 102, 46 and 239 in the past four innings of this series, slammed nine fours and a straight six off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria on his way to becoming only the fourth man to score double hundred and a fifty in the same Test against Pakistan.

His team-mate Jaffer achieved the feat in Kolkata while others are former Australian captain Mark Taylor (at Peshawar, 1998-99) and New Zealand’s Mathew Sinclair (Christchurch, 2000-01).

In fact, Pakistan might have further trimmed India’s lead had it not been for an inspired burst of pace bowling by Ishant Sharma who finished with his maiden five-wicket haul in only his second Test.

After Pakistan had achieved their objective in the first session, the interest in the match steadily fizzled out, making it a dull affair until Sharma struck four times in successive overs just before the tea interval as the Pakistan innings stumbled from a healthy 525-6, losing the remaining wickets for the addition of only 12 runs.

To make a match of it, Pakistan needed to score quickly once the follow-on was saved. But Indian captain Anil Kumble countered that approach by spreading out his men in the field, especially whenever the impregnable Misbah was on strike.

Earlier, after resuming Pakistan’s innings at 369-5, Misbah and Kamran Akmal revived the memory of their double-century partnership in the second Test, carrying their overnight stand of 81 to 144 before Kamran (65 off 114 balls in 174 minutes, 12 fours) was smartly stumped by his Indian counterpart Dinesh Karthik to give Harbhajan Singh his second wicket of the innings.

Misbah, who has now top-scored for the third time in five innings while taking his series tally to 427 runs, moved at a leisurely pace towards his century after spending an agonising 40-minute lunch break on 99, having resumed at 54 this morning. The landmark arrived two balls into the afternoon session when the 33-year-old right-hander turned Harbhajan towards fine leg for a couple.

Yasir Arafat celebrated his five-wicket haul on Test debut with a resourceful 44 (70 balls, seven boundaries) while helping Misbah add 93 in 164 balls for the seventh wicket in 97 minutes.

Sharma then effectively booked his place in India’s squad for the tour of Australia, starting next week, getting rid of Yasir and the tail in space of 16 deliveries from the BEML End to finish with five for 118 in 33.1 overs.

But the 19-year-old strapping paceman from Delhi was constantly bothered by the no-ball syndrome, and was called nine times for overstepping the popping crease.

‘Mr Extras’ also played an influential role in increasing the Pakistan score substantially by no less than 76 and dubiously provided India with a world record that formerly belonged to the West Indies, who conceded 71 to Pakistan at Georgetown in April 1988 when that legendary fast bowler Curtly Ambrose began his Test career.

Misbah, touted in the corridors of power as the next national skipper-in-waiting, batted 13 minutes short of seven hours during which he smashed 17 boundaries. During the course of his 27th ton in first-class cricket, Misbah also took his career average past 50 in 124 matches.

The only way this game could generate some sort of excitement on the final day of the series on Wednesday would be if the Indians decide to make a sporting declaration.

But such has been the benign character of this pitch – despite its tendency of the occasional low bounce – it is highly unlikely that India would risk their prospects of winning their first home series over Pakistan for 28 seasons.

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