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The West Indies captain Brian Lara’s spectacular batting led his team to a commanding position in the second Test against Pakistan at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Lara dominated the third day’s proceedings and enabled his team gain a daunting lead of 152 runs.

At the close, the West Indies were 509 for five in their first innings, the higest against the home side on their soil. Lara was batting on 196 and wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin was not out on 4 when the stumps were drawn.

The first session of the third day was an unforgettable occasion for the crowd that witnessed and enjoyed a feast of classic cricket.

The West Indies batsmen played positive cricket and attacked the bowlers from the word go. Three early wickets couldn’t stop Lara’s controlled aggression who came to bat at 9.49 in the morning and completed his 34th Test hundred at 11.56.

Only Sachin Tandulkar with 35 centuries is ahead of Lara. It was a chanceless hundred by the captain which raised the morale of the tourists who lost the first Test at Lahore by nine wickets. Tuesday was Lara’s day indeed! He delighted the crowd with a flurry of sizzling strokes.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul disappointed his fans who expected some runs from the batsman playing his 100th Test. He played two beautiful strokes and was committed to Shahid Nazir’s attempted bouncer which didn’t lift much and gave a straight catch to Abdul Razzaq fielding at long-on.

Dwayne Bravo joined his captain and along him added 200 runs. The most successful bowler Danish Kaneria ended the day with figures of 41-5-159-3.

Chris Gayle started with the same aggression of the second day and drove Kaneria for a four at covers but the bowler soon had his revenge in the next over on a ball which turned more than Gayle’s expectation and the umpire had no hesitation in raising his finger for a lbw appeal. He made 93.

Daren Ganga (87) too became victim of Kaneria’s guile and got the same decision. The West Indies lost two more wickets in short intervals. Umar Gul bowling with the second new ball trapped Runako Morton lbw for 5.

Inzamam-ul-Haq’s poor handling of the bowlers also left a lot of questions about his captaincy. He allowed Lara to attack Kaneria but brought in Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez a bit too late.

Scoreboard

Pakistan won toss

Pakistan 1st inns 357 (Imran Farhat 74, Younis Khan 56, Mohammad Yousuf 56, Shoaib Malik 42; J E Taylor 5-91)

West Indies 1st inns (overnight 151-0)

C H Gayle lbw b Kaneria 93

D Ganga lbw b Kaneria 82

*B C Lara not out 196

R S Morton lbw b Umar 5

S Chanderpaul c Razzaq b Shahid 14

D J Bravo c Younis b Kaneria 89

†D Ramdin not out 4

Extras (b8, lb11, nb7) 26

Total (5 wkts, 147 overs) 509

To bat: D Mohammed, J E Taylor, D B Powell, C D Collymore

Fall: 1-162, 2-220, 3-281, 4-302, 5-502

Bowling: Umar Gul 33-12-80-1 (2nb); Shahid Nazir 22-2-81-1 (4nb); Danish Kaneria 41-6-159-3 (1nb); Abdul Razzaq 17-4-64-0; Mohammad Hafeez 23-2-68-0; Shoaib Malik 11-1-38-0

Source:The News

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