BANGALORE, Dec 8: Pakistan were left scratching their heads after glorious centuries from Yuvraj Singh and Saurav Ganguly dug India out of deep trouble on the opening day of the third and final Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

Yuvraj, appearing in a Test after spending 18 months in the wilderness, justified his comeback in the most emphatic manner as he bludgeoned a career-best 169 off 203 balls. Yuvraj clearly dominated a record fifth-wicket stand of exactly 300 in 393 balls with fellow left-hander Ganguly, who is still at crease with 125 under belt as India recovered from a precarious 61-4 to close at 365-5. Dinesh Karthik, who will keep wickets in place of the injured Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was unbeaten on three at the close.

After making early inroads on the newly-laid track through debutant Yasir Arafat’s fine spell, the problems for Pakistan mounted as the day progressed. A severe blow to Pakistan’s series-levelling hopes was struck when Shoaib Akhtar, after an impressive spell at the start, left the field 15 minutes after lunch with a muscle spasms in his back. He was taken to the hospital for MRI scans and did not return to the ground for the rest of the day.

Yuvraj, who replaced the injured Sachin Tendulkar, showed what a classy performer he can be even at the Test level as he unleashed one brilliant stroke after another in easily the most attractive innings from either side in this series.

Everything about the princely left-hander was awesome on Saturday as the 30,000 crowd got their money’s worth as runs flowed from his punishing blade like a river. No bowler was spared as Younis had his bowling options drastically cut once Shoaib chose to seek refuge away.

Apart from using himself, Younis asked Yasir Hameed and Salman Butt to provide relief to the three regular bowlers, but it didn’t matter to the likes of Yuvraj and Ganguly as the left-handed duo prospered handsomely in bettering the previous partnership for the fifth-wicket in India-Pakistan Tests, set by Zaheer Abbas and Mudassar Nazar at Karachi in 1982-83.

Yuvraj punched Arafat through to the cover boundary to raise his 100 in 167 minutes off 137 balls. Once the milestone was reached, he accelerated taking only 60 more deliveries to get past 150, depositing Danish Kaneria into the midwicket stand for six. His innings finally came to end in the closing overs when he attempted to turn Mohammad Sami on the onside, but the leading edge found Faisal Iqbal in the gulley.

Ganguly, upstaged by his younger partner, brought up his second hundred against Pakistan, both coming in successive Tests, with a back foot driven cover boundary off part-timer Yasir Hameed, one of the seven bowlers employed on Saturday.

Earlier, Yasir Arafat, who had replaced fellow Rawalpindi all-rounder Sohail Tanvir in the only change in the Pakistan XI, proved an inspiring selection as he claimed three wickets in 13 deliveries. The 189th Test debutant for his country, Yasir generated lively pace and troubled all batsmen with late swing and movement.

At the start, it seemed a good toss to lose for Pakistan as India lost four wickets in the first session. Sami was quick to make amends of a dropped catch, by picking up the recalled Gautam Gambhir (5) in the next over for a thoroughly deserved first wicket of the series, with Kamran Akmal taking a fine low catch to his left.

Dravid, receiving warm reception from a half-filled crowd on his home territory, got immediately mark with three, but on 17 Yasir Arafat claimed the prized as the great batsman went for a cut to a delivery close to his body and saw Misbah-ul-Haq grasp a sharp chance at first slip with consummate ease.

Arafat then got one dart back sharply into Jaffer (19) to have him leg-before-wicket for 19 as the opener made a serious error in judgement by shouldering his arms as Simon Taufel made one of the easiest decisions of his umpiring career

Arafat’s sensational first morning of Test cricket was completed when he rattled Vangipurappu Laxman’s stumps for five with one that kept low and hit the toe end of the bat.

Meanwhile off the field, ICC’s chief referee Ranjan Madugalle celebrated his 100th Test as match referee – a feat for which the Karnataka State Cricket Association presented the former Sri Lankan captain with a silver trophy during the lunch interval.

Scoreboard

INDIA 1st innings

W.Jaffer lbw b Arafat 17

G.Gambhir c Akmal b Sami 5

R.A.Dravid c Misbah b Arafat 19

S.C.Ganguly not out 125

V.V.S.Laxman b Arafat 5

Y. Singh c Faisal Iqbal b Sami 169

D. Karthik not out 3

EXTRAS: (B-9, LB-7, NB-6) 22

Total (for 5 wkts, 90 overs) 365

FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-44, 3-51, 4-61, 5-361.

BOWLING: Shoaib 10-3-23-0, Sami 23-4-103-2 (NB-4), Yasir 22-2-98-3, Kaneria 23-5-75-0, Younis 2-0-14-0, Salman 5-1-10-0 (NB-1), Hameed 5-0-26-0 (NB-1).

UMPIRES: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Simon Taufel (Aus)

TV UMPIRE: G. A. Pratapkumar (Ind).

MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri).

PAKISTAN: Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan (captain), Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Yasir Arafat.