 Misbah-ul-Haq, Ishant Sharma share honours in Bangalore
11th Dec 2007 19:02 IST
Agencies
India did not have a good start to their second innings with both the openers Wasim Jaffer (18) and Gambhir (3) cooling their heels in the pavilion when the score read 26.
Gambhir perished in the seventh over when Akhtar thoroughly exposed the bat-pad gap to disturb the off-stump and six overs later, Arafat had Jaffer leg before for the second time in the match.
That brought in former captains Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly together at the crease and the left-hander continued his amazing run with the bat.
Ganguly made his intention clear as he drove Akhtar for two sweetly-times boundaries through his favourite offside region in the same over and continued tormenting the Pakistanis.
The left-hander, who had notched up his maiden double century in the first innings, came dancing down the track to hit Kaneria for a soaring six and remained not out after an 89-ball 63 that also included nine fours.
Dravid was unbeaten on 35, facing 76 balls and hitting five fours in the process.
The two have now added 105 runs in 147 balls for the unbroken third wicket and ensured that there were no further setbacks by taking their second innings total to 131/2 at close on the penultimate day.
The Indians now have an overall lead of 220 runs and will look to score at a brisk pace in the first session on Wednesday and set a competitive target for the visitors on the fifth day track.
But with the pitch showing no signs of a drastic deterioration, a draw appears to be the only result possible.
Even in that case, India, who lead the three-match series 1-0, will have something to cheer about as it will give them their first Test series win on home soil against the traditional rivals in 28 years. |
