Bangalore, Dec 8: Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly slammed centuries as India staged a remarkable recovery to put themselves in the driver's seat in the third and final cricket Test against archrivals Pakistan here today.

Yuvraj (169) unleashed an array of breathtaking shots to notch up his third Test century and performed the salvage job with Ganguly (125 not out) to steer India to a comfortable 365 for five at close on the opening day.

Dinesh Kaarthick (3) was giving Ganguly company at stumps on an eventful day which saw the highest-ever opening day total recorded in India.

Electing to bat, the Indians were tottering at 61 for four before the two left-handers came to the rescue of the team with a scintillating 300-run partnership for the fifth wicket which put the hosts on course for a mammoth first innings total.

Yuvraj, who sat out of the first two games and was drafted into the playing 11 only because of an injury to Sachin Tendulkar, proved a point to the selectors with his career-best knock which contained as many as 28 boundaries and a mighty six.

While the Punjab left-hander set the M Chinnaswamy stadium ablaze with his blistering strokeplay, Ganguly also played a big part in the recovery job by cracking his second consecutive century in the series.

The batting heroics of Yuvraj and Ganguly has now given the home team the platform to further tighten the noose on their hapless opponents who again were handicapped by the absence of speedster Shoaib Akhtar who left the field because of a back spasm. Akhtar bowled just 10 overs during the day and it did put a lot of workload on the three other specialist bowlers.

With the track easing out after the lunch break, the two Indian batsmen virtually plundered runs at will and created a new record of the highest first day total at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, eclipsing the previous best of 339 for three against Sri Lanka.

But the day began on a disastrous note for the hosts as debutant paceman Yasir Arafat (3/98) broke through the top order to leave them gasping at 65 for four at lunch break.

Arafat accounted for Wasim Jaffer (17), Rahul Dravid (19) and V V S Laxman (5) while Mohammed Sami scalped Gautam Gambhir (5) who came into the team after Mahendra Singh Dhoni was ruled out because of a finger injury.

The complexion of the game changed dramatically after the lunch break as the Indians, looking to record their first Test series win on home soil against Pakistan in 28 years, went about consolidating their position.

Sami finally broke the marathon fifth wicket partnership by getting rid of Yuvraj who top edged his shot and was caught by Faisal Iqbal towards the fag-end of the day.

The 300-run partnership between Ganguly and Yuvraj surpassed the previous highest of 177 for the fifth wicket on Indian soil against Pakistan held by Polly Umrigar and Chandu Borde way back in 1960-61 and then eclipsed the previous best of 200 runs for the fifth wicket between the two teams, scripted by Ravi Shastri and Sandeep Patil at Faisalabad in 1984-85.

Playing Test cricket after a long gap of 16 months, Yuvraj played a perfect sheetanchor role when his team needed him to deliver.

Yuvraj's flowing off-drives and pulls fetched him his third Test century, all coming against Pakistan. If Pakistan have found this venue lucky for them, then India tackled that issue with a batsman who has scored all his centuries against Pakistan.

A wicketless post-lunch session certainly brought cheers in the Indian camp while Pakistan even used a fifth bowler in the form of their skipper, Younis Khan, to dislodge the well-set pair in the absence of their strike bowler Akhtar who was taken to hospital after he complained of back pain.

Earlier, Sami struck in the fourth over of the innings removing opener Gambhir for his first wicket of the series through a lovely catch held by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal diving to his left.

Arafat then dealt two severe blows taking the scalps of Rahul Dravid and the other opener, Jaffer, in successive overs.

Jaffer and Dravid played some glorious shots to entertain the crowd with six hits to the fence and showing signs of playing a long innings before disaster struck the hosts in the form of Arafat.

Dravid, struggling to find form, offered a thick edge to Misbah at first slip as he went for a cut, and his poor run of scores at his home ground continued. In his very next over Arafat, who has the experience of playing for Kent County, removed the in-form Jaffer who showed a serious error in judgment as he shouldered arms to a full length delivery and was caught plumb in front.

Pakistan tightened the screws as Danish Kaneria started off with two maiden overs and the onus fell on the two new batsmen at the crease, Gamguly and Laxman, to repair the damage.

But Arafat, who was sent to India before the Kolkata Test as a cover for the injured Umar Gul, went on to have the huge wicket of Laxman for 5, the batsman defending a short of length delivery without bending low and taking the ball on to the stumps. (Agencies).... Scorecard

More News	Published on Dec 8th, 2007
Recommend this page Mail us your feedback