Statistical highlights

66Statistical Highlights of Second Cricket test between India and Pakistan:
Dravid,Younis Khan ,Afridi and Yousuf scored their second consecutive Test hundreds.

MS Dhoni scored his maiden hundred in his 4th test match.

Pathan got out second time in 90’s in his test match career ,the previous occasion
being against SriLanka at Delhi.

R.P.Singh claimed his first wicket when he got the wicket of Shoaib Malik in
First innings.


R.P.Singh also became one of the rare Indians to get a Man-of-Match award in his first
Test itself.

MSDhoni bowled his first over in his carrer when he bowled during Pakistan’s second innings.

Dhoni also became the highest individual scorer for India at this ground when he overtook GR Viswanath’s record of 145 runs at Faisalabad.

India’s first innings score of 603 was highest for them at this ground the previous highest being 500 in 1984-85.

Younis Khan overtook Pakistan’s greatest batsman Hanif Mohammed record of 970 runs during his knock of 194 in second innings

Pakistan’s score of 588 in first innings is second highest score for Pakistan at this ground ,the highest being 652.

Pathan and Dhoni created a record 6th wicket partnership of over 200 runs the previous highest being 143 runs between Mohammed Azharuddin and KapilDev at Kolkatta in 1986.

The match aggregates of over 1700 runs for the loss of 28 wickets are on of the highest in Test cricket and it hold sixth Place in all time aggregate list.

Pakistan's second innigs

Pakistan was without two of their regular batsman as Shoaib Malik had gone to attend his father who was critically ill at Sialkot and Captain Inzamam who had ruled himself out of the second innings because of a back problem which had unfortunately persisted again for Inzamam.

Pakistani think tank sent Akmal as an opener as he is an regular opening batsman for the one day side to face the new ball along with Salman Butt who is regular opener does not dole out any surprises for crowd as they had expected Afridi to open along with Salman Butt.

Pakistan had chance of luck at beginning itself when Laxman grassed a difficult chance of Irfan Pathan at second slip. Salman Butt once again failed to make a big score as he got out to Anil Kumble . Then any chance of India getting a hold on the match was thwarted by Akmal and Younis Khan who hit Indian bowlers to all the parts of ground and scored yet another half century against Indians as they piled misery upon hapless Indian bowlers . At stumps ,Pakistan were 152/1 with Younis Khan on 64 and Akmal undefeated on 59 .

Irfan's Dhamaka

Fourth day:

Irfan Pathan and Dhoni negotiated Pakistani attack very well as they prevented further loss of wickets in first hour of play took the score to 489 when Dhoni was stumped by Pakistan's wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal of Danish Kaneria who bowled a absolute beauty to get rid of Dhoni and it was a nice revenge for Kaneria to get rid of a batsman who had hit him for three sixes yesterday.


With the score reading at 489/6 and 100 runs in arrears with only tail tenders to come for India , Pakistan had a slight chance of bowling out India within 500 to get a sizeable first innings lead, but they failed to utilize this opportunity as Irfan Pathan and Anil Kumble batted well to keep the Pakistani attack at bay as both added about 50 runs for the 7th wicket.

And Irfan Pathan was once again unfortunate as he got out for 90 runs to a Razzaq delivery which held it’s line after pitching up. It was second time that Pathan had missed out on his maiden century , the previous occasion being 93 runs he scored against SriLanka at New Delhi .

After fall of Pathan Indian tail enders especially Harbhajan and ZaheerKhan batted brilliantly to reach the Pakistan’s first innings score of 589 and they even managed to gain a slender lead of 15 runs.

Harbhajan Singh was especially severe as he hit huge sixes of Afridi and Danish Kaneria and Zaheer Khan provided him able support at the other end to get the team past the Pakistan’s first innings score of 588.

And finally Pakistan bowled out Indians for 603 runs when R.P.Singh was brilliantly caught by Afridi of his own bowling after A slender first innings lead.

Dravid and Laxman consolidated Indian innings after the fall of Sehwag as both of them scored half centuries within first hour of play on third day and their accumalation of runs at a steady pace frustrated Pakistani Bowlers who indulged in sledging instead of trying to dislodge them by bowling good line and length .

Dravid and Laxman prevented any further loss of wickets by playing some steady slow cricket and India went to lunch at 231/1.

After lunch ,Indians were more cautious as both of them were nearing centuries and Laxman in this process tried to cut a delivery from Kaneria which was very close to his body and was caught brilliantly by wicketkeeper Akmal .


And Dravid soon followed him after scoring his century who was run out by direct hit from Imran Farhat at square leg and television replays clearly showed that Dravid would have been notout had he grounded his bat much before his crease as faliure to do this had cost an important wicket fot Indians at this crucial juncture.


Now days ,Tendulkar was past his prime as he was very uncomfortable against short pitch deliveries from Shoiab and his Co.


With Yuvraj Singh whose form in the past three matches had cost Saurav Ganguly his place in his team for this test match who came after the fall of Rahul Dravid was very much overaggressive and he got out by directly hooking Mohammed Asif straight into the hands of Danish Kaneria at Fineleg who took wonderfulcatch for dismissing him.

And with Tendulkar gloving a Shoaib Akthar delivery to Akmal,India were in dire straits as they were still adrift of 200 runs from Pakistan’s score with only five wickets remaining.


Then came Dhoni and Irfan Pathan whom had a testing time as both of them were treated with short pitched deliveries from Shoaib and Co and they added some quick runs as both of them were not hesitant to hook or pull short pitched deliveries which our top order batsmanhad failed to do ,soon Shoiab was taken off the attack and Danish Kaneria replaced him at the other end and Dhoni greated him with huge six over long on which went out of the stadium.


In that period ,India scored at more than five runs an over with Dhoni and Irfan Pathan clubbing five sixes of Danish Kaneria .MS dhoni Played beautifully as he was not afraid to pull and hook whenever he had a short pitched delivery as he went on to score his maiden hundred in Test cricket just for 93 balls which is also a record .At other end was Irfan Pathan who played a second fiddle to Dhoni .


And Pakistan are to blame themselves for allowing to India to come back into the match as they had missed catches for Dhoni and Irfan at fag end of the day.At stumps Indians were comfortably placed at 413/5 with Irfan and Dhoni unbeaten on 49 and114 respectively.

Afridi's superb knock

Abdur Razzaq and Afridi came to open the batting on second day as their overnight batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq had retired hurt because of a serious back problem which had surfaced again for him.

Afridi and Razzaq added runs slowly and Afridi in particular opened up after reaching his second consecutive century against India, hit sixes and fours in his knock of 155 which his highest test score for him. His second consecutive century was more a sedate knock for him when compared to his Test century at Lahore.

After fall of Afridi , Akmal came and tried to break the shackles in his second ball itself falling to Anil Kumble at midwicket, Then Inzamam on 79 resumed his innings with a runner as he could not run because of a serious back problem.

Inzamam and Razzaq batted beautifully and got Pakistan beyond a magical figure of 500, R.P.Singh who was consistent with his line and length as he frustrated Razzaq with his wide line and length and Razzaq who was frustrated because of this outside off stump line finally fell to R.P.Singh as he tried to break the shackles by a cut shot and was caught by wicket keeper Dhoni.


Inzamam at the other end after reaching his century hung around with Shoiab Akthar who did not score a run in his first 25 balls he faced till Lunch, After lunch , Both Inzamam and Akthar accelerated the run rate , after the fall of Inzamam f or 116 and at the other end was Akthar who hit Harbhajan for two huge sixes over midwicket I his score of 46 which is also the highest test score for him in Test cricket.

Finally Pakistan were all out for mammoth total of 588 with R.P.Singh claiming four wickets,Zaheer Khan 3 and Anil Kumble was rewarded with 3 wickets fir his consistent line and Length

India's First innings: Sehwag and Dravid begin on a bright note with Sehwag hitting Akthar for three consecutive fours in a over and there was also more drama as Imran Farhat substituting in field for Inzamam-ul-Haq grassed a difficult chance at firsr slip of Shoaib Akthar.At Tea India were 39 for no loss with Sehwag racing to 31 with his six boundaries.

After tea , Abdul Razzaq was introduced as a first change bowler and this change immediately paid rich dividends as Sehwag got out to a Razzaq beauty with Imran Farhat making amends for dropping Sehwag earlier.

Laxman who came after the fall of Sehwag survived some anxious moments before consolidating the Indian innings along with Rahul Dravid as both essayed some sweet cover drivers on off side and flicks on side. At stumps India were 110/1 with Dravid on 46 and Laxman on 28.

Once again Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat on a placid wicket which had nothing for bowlers and Pakistani opening pair of Shoiab Malik and Salman Butt provided a solid foundation and added 49 runs in quick time and this pair was broken by R.P Singh who bowled a consistent line and length throught the first day.

Salman Butt soon followed Shoaib Malik to dressing room and with the score at 76/2 , Pakistan looked in some sorts of trouble as Indians had sent back both the openers with consistent line and length .

Once again Pakistan looked forward to Yusuf and Younis Khan and again they rescued Pakistan from a tight situation and with both of them hitting half centuries and helping the score to move past 200 spoke volume about their characterstics of rescuing the team from a tight situation.

With both of them making half centuries Pakistan looked set for a big score , but suddenly two quick wickets of Yusuf and Younis changed the course of the innings and with Inzamam who has made a nought in first innings and big hitter Afridi who hit 3 consecutive fours in Kumble’s over made me feel that Afridi may soon loss his wicket and only Razzaq and Akmal to follow after Afridi made me to feel that Pakistan’s innings may soon come to an end after tea .

But with some sort of advice from team management and Inzamam , Afridi played a subduded knock which was remarkable change and I have not seen him a playing such a knock since he made his debut about 10 years ago and the Pakistani pair of Inzamam and Afridi accumulated runs at steady pace in the process they helped Pakistan’s scor e to move past well over 320 and with Afridi and Inzamam both reaching their half centuries ,India surely looked in some sort of trouble and when Afridi hit Pathan for two consecutive fours and sixes with score moving past 350 .Afridi considerably did his bit by playing some smart cricket to keep his wicket intact till the stumps were drawn on First day.

TEAM COMPOSITION

Much was discussed about Team compositions of both teams before the start of second Test match as there was more drama with Pakistan dropping their two prime bowlers in the form of Rana and Sami due to their below par performance in the First test at Lahore .

And their decision to include Abdul Razzaq for his batting prowess and Mohammed Asif who is making his debut in this test match was baffling and it is not wise to drop a bowler like Sami who has won matches for Pakistan many times for a debutant like Asif who has not been exposed to international level.

And the Indian Team’s management to drop Sourav Ganguly from the final eleven was quite surprising as he did not bat during the First test and his form in Ranji trophy matches was not also bad when compared to other players in the team.

Knowing clearly that the pitch was not suitable to bowlers and including five bowlers in the lineup is not a very good idea and it may also backfire against some top quality bowling line up and in such a situation Indians may be deprived of a good batsman like Sourav Ganguly who could provide solidity to batting in case of India losing some quick wickets.

Only time will tell that whether Indians had made a good decision or not and this may be one of the greatest blunders and it may very well prove to be one of the decisive factors in deciding the course of this series.

India's Reply

India’s reply to Pakistan’s total of 679 was so strong that Indians scored at run rate of 5.74 runs per over due to Virender Sehwag who scored a mammoth 254 in this match. Dravid laid rest to doubts over Ganguly opening the innings by himself taking the responsibility as an makeshift opener .

Dravid with his impeccable defence and Sehwag with his fast run scoring ability combined well to make the Pakistan bowlers toil hard on a placid wicket for more than 4days which was interrupted by bad weather and rain and they literally saved the match for India ,In the process they created a world record of 410 runs for first wicket partnership against Pakistan and their record is only second to best opening partnership of 413 runs between Vinoo Mankad and his fellow partner against NewZealand at Madras way back in 1956 , makes us proud that Indians are best to none other in forging opening partnerships and in making a solid foundation for the rest of players to follow.

And I am sure that the Pakistani Bowlers confidence would have taken a beating after that mammoth partnership between Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid for First wicket and I am sure that they will be looking forward to erase the bad memories of first Test. With second test starting at Faisalabad on 21st where the conditions are similar to those in Lahore and another a dull draw may be expected there also

"India's advantage"

Indians Advantage on second day:
With Mohammed Yousuf on 95 and Younis Khan on 147 is an indeed an advantage for India,as they would be extremely cautious in reaching the 100 and 150 mark ,and India can use their overcautious approach good to their advantage and could get them out as early possible on second day’s play.

And with Inzaman regularly struggling early in his innings may give a undue advantage early as Inzamam can beeasily wrapped on his pads and the chances of LBW are more when he is new to the crease.And the next man Afridi ,Indians can take more chances as he will always go for his shots and this may do a great favour to Indians .Though Kamran Akmal may be in good form ,he is very suspectible against the Indian spin duo of Harbahajan singh and Kumble may work against him.The tail is not so much good when compared to Indians whose tail enders have more than 10 50’s mong them.Indians need not worry about Pakistan’s score as they have batsmen who can put more runs on the board.But all of the Indians stragety depends upon the first hour of play which is crucial for both the teams,and if Indians manage to get one or two quick wickets,in the first hour of play and this may well turn out India’s day

Younis Khan's ton Lifts Pakistan

Pakistan made a bright start to test series by scoring more than 300 runs on the first day of the match. And this first day would certainly boost their confidence in the remaining matches.

Pakistan continued with their make shift opening pair of Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt as this pair has been involved in decent partnerships in the recent test series against England, but this time the pair failed to click as there was a terrible misunderstanding between Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik resulting in latter’s runout.

Then came Younis Khan whose form has not been certainly good in the recent test series against England and as he survived a confident leg before appeal against him early in the innings which was turned down by Australian umpire Darrell Hair, which Hawk eye suggested that the ball may have gone to hit the stumps.This was the only chance they had against Younis Khan during his stay at the crease at morning. Younis Khan seeing the placid wicket which did not have not have anything for bowlers made up his mind that this was the time to get into some sort of good form and played some delightful and crispy shots on the square of the wicket on offside.Malik and Younis combined well to take Pakistan to 110 at lunch.





After Lunch, Malik completed his half century and he tried to open up by playing some risky shots and in the due process he got out by offering a simple catch to Harbhajan singh at cover of Irfan Pathan’s bowling.At that stage Pakistan were at 136/2 and this gave India a slight chance of restricting Pakistan within 300 ,but Indians failed to convert the chance as Indians were guilty of bowling too many boundary balls and giving away easy runs. Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan batted carefully to take Pakistan at tea to 220/2.

After tea ,Indians were made to toil hard as there was nothing in the wicket for bowlers,and we were treated to some delightful stroke play by Younis Kkan and Mohammed Yousuf playing shots all around the park,and they were particulary severe in dispatching bad balls to the boundary especially against spinners, Kumble and Harbhajan singh.The economy rate of spinners were over four runs per over tells you the story that there was nothing much in the pitch especially for bowlers.

Yousuf and Younis stored at a rapid rate such that 106 runs came of 20 overs in the final session of play. Indians in trying to break the partnership took newball and they immediately got a chance ,which was grassed by Sehwag at gully as it was hit very hard by Yousuf. After that over umpires immediately offered light and Pakistan had no hesitation in accepting the offer and when stumps were drawn


Mohammed Yousuf was on 95 and Younis khan was on 147 .And Indians would like to not remember anything on yesterday,when they come for second day’s play today.

Statistical records at lahore

Some of the statistical highlights at Lahore:

Highest score by Indian team:

Score: 509 Year:1989-90


Centurions at Lahore for India:

Player Runs Year

S.Manjerkar 218 1989-90

M.Amarnath 120 1982-83

Yuvraj Singh 112 2003-04

M.Amarnath 109 1982-83




India’s highest Partnership at Lahore:

186 S.Manjerkar & R.Shastri 1989-90





Highest score by Pakistan team:

Score: 699-5 Year:1989-90









Centurions at Lahore for Pakistan:


Player Runs Year

Zaheer Abbas 235* 1978-79

Zaheer Abbas 215 1982-83

S Mohammed 203* 1989-90

Zaheer Abbas 168* 1984-85

Mudassar Nazar 152* 1982-83

Javed Miandad 145 1989-90

Inzamam 118 2003-04

A.Malik 113 1989-90

Moshin khan 101 1982-83

Imran Farhat 100 2003-04

India’s batting:

Though India and Pakistan teams may look as equal as far as batting and bowling is concerned , The Indians have a slightly upper hand against Pakistan because of their good batting line up.

Though their top order has not performed well recently, the performance of middle order and lower middle order has been extremely good in the recent test series held against Sri Lanka. The performance of lower middle order has been extremely good due to the presence of Yuvraj ,Ganguly, Dhoni and Irfan Pathan who have come up with some good scores against Srilanka may not augur well for Pakistan.

The presence of Sehwag may bolster the lineup as he was the man who has performed well against Pakistan in recent times with a triple century to his credit and his ability to gather runs at a brisk pace may set apart any bowling attack in the world.

In addition to this their middle order is one of the finest in the world which has Dravid & Sachin who can adapt to any kind of wicket and situation makes them a very good batting line up in the world. The fact that Sachin and Dravid has scored centuries in all test playing nations may illustrate the truth.

Not to mention about Laxman who likes the bowl to come on to bat and his ability to play some elegant and wristy strokes makes him a very special batsman on these kind of tracks. He may be also very hungry to perform in Pakistan as he had missed out on the last tour. He is also sort of player who can make a big impression in this series. Though Pakistan captain has said that he do not consider his team as favorites has eased some pressure on his team mates also there lies a hidden truth that he himself considers Indians are favorites to win this series because of their good batting lineup and some above average bowling attack may be noted.

Pakistan's bowling attack

In the recent test series against England ,Pakistan was able to win over them ,because of it's supreme bowling attack only, again they will be only relying on their bowling attack to put India in a spot of bother in this test match as they woold not be relying too much on their batsman .

Though Pakistan pace attack has been performing well in the last 3 months ,they does not have too much variety in their pace bowling line up is a cause of concern for them .Pakistan's pace attack rely too much on pace as their main lethal weapon except Rana-Naved-Ul-Hasan who has added some variety to the pakistan attack with his swing bowling.

SHOAIB AKTHAR:
Shoaib Akthar commonly known as "RAWALPINDI EXPRESS" has been main stay of the pakistan's bowling attack for the last few years, after bowling greats Wasim Akram and Waqar younis retired after the 2003 world cup debacle.Though
Shoiab Akthar bowls constanly at above 145kph ,he will be prime weapon only when he add's some variety to his bowling .Of late though he added variety this bowling with his slower deliveries,Akthar will not pose any grave danger to Indian team as they would have sorted out him with extensive video analysis. I personally feel to fare better against Indians he needs to add swing to his bowling ,then only he culd be a potent bowling weapon against Indians.

SAMI:
As far as Sami is concerned, he could be also a most weapon when bowling in tandem with Shoiab Akthar.Especially against Indians ,He has not fared well and he could be a cause of worry for Pakistan ,if he did not bowl well in the upcoming series against India.

RANA-NAVED-UL-HASAN:
Rana Naved was devastated when his bowling was smashed by Sehwag to all parks of ground in his debut match against Indians in 2003.Nowdays he added a new dimension to Pakistan's attack with his swing and seam bowling.And it was Rana who completely destroyed Indians in the Onedayseries held last year.The fact that it was Rana who helped Pakistan for a series win in the One day series may be pschyologically playing in the minds of Indians and they may give him too much respect and it may be an added advantage for Pakistan.The
recent performance of Rana against England augurs well for Pakistan and they may have a slight advantage by having a swing bowler like Rana in their team.

SPIN ATTACK:
Though their pace department is very good when compared to Pakistan,their spin department is a cause of concern for them.Even though they have world class spinners like Daneish Kaneria in their team , the absence of good support bowlers for Danish Kaneria makes their attack as an ordinary one.
Though Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi act as part time spinners and though they may lend good support ,they may not be as good as their Indian spin attack who can ripe apart any batting line up in the world

Danish Kaneria:
He is their prime spin bowler as far as Pakistan's attack is concerned.The ability of Kaneria to bowl Long spells and maintain a constant line and length and bowl more wicket taking deliveries may poses threat to Indians as Pakistan can stem the flow of runs with Danish Kaneria at one end and with their pace Bowlers at other end.He has very good googly makes him a dangerous bowler in their line-up.

Shoaib Malik:
Even though Shoaib Malik provides much needed variety to the Pakistan's spin attack,his inability to impart enough revolutions to the ball and absence of Doosra makes him a less potent bowler than his Indian counterpart Harbhajan Singh.

Shahid Afridi:
Shahid Afridi is a part-time bowler who bowls his fast fattish leg spinners at brisk pace makes him similar to Anil Kumble ,but the absence of variety in his bowling makes him as very ordinary bowler.

In overall ,Pakistan will be more relying on their paceattack to make inroads in the Indian batting line-up and in case they will not more relying on their spin attack,as Indians play spinners better than the Pace.

The Indian team management would be in a confused state when they sit to annouce the final 11 for first Test against Pakistan beginning on 13th January at Lahore. It would be difficult to left out either Gambhir or Wasim Jaffer as both of them had come relatively good in the opening 3-day match against Pakistan'A' . It is very difficult to left out Gautam Gambhir has he had not been given enough chances to prove his talent , considering the fact he has hardly played over 15 matches for India.
Instead of trying out Wasim Jaffer as an opener in the place of Gautam Gambhir ,It is good to try out somebody like Experienced Rahul Dravid as opener ,and sending a guy like VVS Laxman at no:3 may provide rich dividends for India.And at the same time we may get a experienced guy like Saurav Ganguly batting down the order and also a flamboyant and in-form batsman like Yuvraj singh batting in the middleorder may provide as a better option against the Pakistan attack rather going with the regular opener along with Virender Sehwag.
In addition to this Dhoni and Pathan lower down the order makes India a formidable batting side ,when compared with Pakistan.

The real worry for Greg Chappell would be whether to go with 3-pronged pace attack or with two fast bowlers and two spinners. Though Agit Agarkar bowled very well in the recent test series against Sri Lanka ,He is not in best of form.If Chappell and Rahul Dravid decide to go with Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan , It robs the Indian attack of the variety that a left hand and right hand bowling combination would bring in .It is very difficult for team management and the coach Greg Chappell to left out the two spinners as they could be match winners in their own right.It is best to go with Agit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan as new bowlers along with Harbhajan singh and Anil kumble rather than any other bowling combination.I wish that the Indian team management would pick the best 11 for the First test against Pakistan and wish them for suceess in the upcoming series against our arch arrivals.