 Younis Khan earns a draw for Pakistan at Eden Gardens
4th Dec 2007 18:00 IST
Agencies
India failed to finish the job after pushing Pakistan to the wall as stand-in skipper Younis Khan struck a chanceless century under pressure to salvage a draw on the final day of the second Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata today.
Set a winning target of 345, Pakistan were struggling at 78/4 in the post lunch session, before the seasoned pair of Younis (107 not out) and Mohammad Yousuf (44 not out) stitched together a match-saving 136-run partnership to deny India a victory that would have sealed the series for the hosts.
Replying to India's second innings essay of 184/4 declared, Pakistan had reached 214/4 in 77 overs when the match was called off with four mandatory overs still remaining.
Younis, who had scored a hundred on this ground in Pakistan's previous appearance in 2004-05, gave yet another fine exhibition of batsmanship to complete his 15th hundred in 57 Tests in an innings spanning 214 minutes. He faced 182 balls and struck 14 boundaries in his hundred that was fifth against India.
Yousuf, however, was lucky to survive on 32 when short leg fielders Wasim Jaffer and VVS Laxman failed to react to a bad-pad edge of a quicker delivery off a very annoyed Harbhajan Singh.
With Indian skipper Anil Kumble declaring 38 minutes into the day's play, Pakistan were left with a minimum of 81 overs to make a match of it.
However, the tourists lost Yasir Hameed (14) as early as the seventh over with 23 on the board, as the batsman went for an uppish drive off Zaheer Khan who stretched to his right to accept the catch.
Lunch was taken with Pakistan on 37/1.
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