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Opener Mohammad Hafeez hit a diligent 57 to make sure Pakistan stay on top on the third day of the third and final Test against the West Indies on a National Stadium pitch that eased out a bit here on Wednesday.

The Sargodha-born Hafeez batted out two sessions and with the help of vice-captain Younis Khan (38) guided Pakistan to a 174-run lead in the second innings with eight wickets still intact. Pakistan laboured their way to 130-2 before the umpires called off play due to bad light with 15 of the day’s 90 stipulated overs still left.

Mohammad Yousuf, the other unbeaten batsman at stumps, could score just one run and needs 46 more to break West Indian legend Vivian Richards’ record of 1710 runs in a calendar year.

Leading the three-match series 1-0, Pakistan are perfectly placed to set a target of 300-350 runs for West Indies which would be very difficult on a wicket where the bounce is uneven and shot-making is still a risky business.

Things could have been worse for the touring party without a precious 50 from wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin who took them to 260, 69 more than the overnight score of 191-6 earlier in the day.

Only 199 runs were scored on the third day, partly because of the low and slow bounce and partly because of the overcast conditions.

The West Indian pace attack bowled tightly to keep the batsmen quite and apart from a Younis’ six — the first one of the match — off Chris Gayle at midwicket, there were no big shots.

Hafeez, who added 43 with opening partner Imran Farhat and 79 with Younis, anchored the innings, showing a lot of character after failing to score big in the first innings (18).

Pakistan began their second innings after lunch as the West Indies batted out the entire first session because of a gutsy display by Ramdin.

With plenty of time still left in the match, eight sessions to be precise, Pakistan openers were in no hurry and scored at a run an hour for more than an hour in the post-lunch session.

Both Hafeez and Imran are natural stroke-players but common sense dictated a risk-free approach. They tried to see off the new ball and played with a straight bat early in the innings. Imran, who narrowly missed a fifty in the first innings, needed 18 balls to score his first run before opening up with two fours square of the wicket in a Jerome Taylor over. He put on 43 for the first wicket before departing on 20, once again falling while chasing a ball going outside the off stump. He faced 71 balls and hit three fours.

Younis, celebrating his 29th birthday, made a confident start as Pakistan continued to consolidate their lead. Playing his 50th Test, Younis got a life at 19 when Dwayne Bravo failed to get hold of a power drive off his own bowling. Hafeez and Younis kept the scoreboard ticking, though a bit too slowly and took Pakistan to 61-1 at tea.

They added 61 more runs in the final session before Younis was trapped LBW by Gayle just three overs before stumps.

Yousuf, with a first innings 102 in his back pocket, was greeted with a hostile reception from Jerome Taylor who bowled at a considerable pace to give him a tough time under fading light.

But Yousuf, who scored a record eighth ton in a calendar year on the opening day of the Test, saw off the challenge as Pakistan ended the day with a tight grip on the match.

Earlier, Daren Ganga managed to add just four runs to his overnight 77 before presenting his wicket to Abdul Razzaq with a big swing away from his body, thin edging a wide delivery into the gloves of Kamran Akmal. Ganga’s 81 came off 221 balls from a 326-minute stay at the wicket.

The visitors were 204-7 and it seemed they would be bowled out under overcast conditions without any substantial addition to their total.

But Ramdin took over from Ganga left and marshalled the tail with commendable authority. A dropped catch by Kamran off the bowling of Danish Kaneria when his score was just 5, helped Ramdin’s cause.

He lost two more partners, Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor, but in 11th man Corey Collymore, found a good support.

After Pakistan took the second new ball in the 84th over, Powell became Umar Gul’s fourth wicket of the innings while Taylor fell to Shahid Nazir.

The West Indies looked down and out at 216-9 but Ramdin and Collymore slowly steered the ship towards relative safety.

Ramdin, who began the day at 0, batted beautifully to complete his fourth Test fifty from 95 balls — a great effort considering the difficult batting conditions.

He fell soon after the fifty that came off 95 balls and included seven fours.

It took a run out by Yousuf to get rid of Ramdin and end the West Indian innings as the bowlers failed to achieve the task.

The last wicket partnership yielded 44 runs and took the West Indies to 260 from 96 overs.

Umar was once again the top bowler with 4-79 while Kaneria took 3-62, failing to add any more wickets to his overnight tally.

Scoreboard

Pakistan won toss

Pakistan 1st inns 304 (Imran Farhat 47, Mohammad Yousuf 102)

West Indies 1st inns (overnight 191-6)

C H Gayle c Razzaq b Umar 40

D Ganga c Kamran b Razzaq 81

*B C Lara b Umar 0

R R Sarwan b Umar 0

S Chanderpaul c Imran b Kaneria 36

R S Morton c Imran b Kaneria 21

D J Bravo c Kamran b Kaneria 8

†D Ramdin run out (Yousuf/Razzaq) 50

D B Powell b Umar 1

J E Taylor c Kamran b Shahid 1

C D Collymore not out 8

Extras (b5, lb2, nb7) 14

Total (all out, 96 overs) 260

Fall: 1-51, 2-51, 3-51, 4-114, 5-153, 6-190, 7-204, 8-213, 9-216

Bowling: Umar Gul 24-5-79-4 (3nb); Shahid Nazir 17-3-58-1 (2nb); Danish Kaneria 35-12-62-3; Abdul Razzaq 16-5-44-1 (2nb); Mohammad Hafeez 4-1-10-0

Pakistan 2nd inns

Mohammad Hafeez not out 57

Imran Farhat c Ramdin b Powell 20

Younis Khan lbw b Gayle 38

Mohammad Yousuf not out 1

Extras (b4, lb10) 14

Total (2 wkts, 52 overs) 130

To bat: *Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, †Kamran Akmal, Shahid Nazir, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria

Fall: 1-43, 2-122

Bowling: Taylor 11-4-23-0; Collymore 7-5-5-0; Powell 12-3-35-1; Bravo 10-1-24-0; Gayle 10-2-23-1; Sarwan 2-0-6-0

Series: Pakistan leads the 3-Test series 1-0

Umpires: M R Benson (England) and D J Harper (Australia). TV umpire: Riazuddin. Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

Previous matches: November 11-14 1st Test Lahore, Pakistan won by 9 wickets. November 19-23 2nd Test Multan, match drawn
Source:The News

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