India v Pakistan | 2nd Test | Kolkata | Day 3 | 2/12/07

[Rickz]

Congrats to Akmal and Mishbaq for their tons. This is turning out to be an amazing fightback for Pakistan, only 67 more runs to make India bat again, very frustrating for India, come on boys, just need this partnership to be broken!.

 

[XFactor]

So Pakistan has well and truly dominated two sessions on the trot.

If they can hold on for one more session, a draw is on the cards.

 

[sohaibsyed]

pakistan has managed to bat a 100 overs

 

[Shoaib Akhtar's Fan]

now this partnership is worth 200 runs !!

 

[Oxy]

350 up

200 partnership up!

 

[sohaibsyed]

200 run partnership . 67 more to avoid follow on. MASHALLAH AMAZING STUFF FROM THESE TWO

 

[XFactor]

Kumble seems to have allowed things to drift a bit after the 5 wickets. The intensity seems to be missing overall. Somewhat reminiscent of the phase in the first test when they let Misbah and Sami off the hook.

This may be one area they will need to address quickly or else Australia will walk all over them in the test series.

 

[Shoaib Akhtar's Fan]

Another four for Akmal !! wow !!

 

[thurkeebaba]

Chaaar Runzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Hash]

why are the umpires refusing to offer us the light?

 

[sohaibsyed]

mashallah another nice drive

 

[Hash]

**** Kamran gone

well played Kami

 

[Shoaib Akhtar's Fan]

Oh NOOOOO!! Akmal goes !!

 

[sohaibsyed]

come on guys just survive please

 

[sohaibsyed]

gone

 

[Amjid Javed]

Damn Akmal gone...

Tail needs to wag here and we need to some how get another 100 runs out of them!

 

[the_game]

Oh man. I would have liked Akmal and Misbah to stay till the end. Oh well, excellent knock nonetheless. Akmal gone.

 

[Rickz]

Yessssssssss!!!!!, Bhajji you done it!!!

Great innings by Akmal.

 

[pak4life]

akmal getting loads of appluads

 

[sohaibsyed]

sami negotiates the over

 

[UsmanhailsAfridi]

akmal getting loads of appluads

so akmal should be getting cursed?...it was great innings....much better than a lot of other innings by other batsmen...bc this one came under immense pressure...to me that 119 was worth a triple hundred

 

[kablooee87]

Pakistan need to find a way to get to lunch tomorrow.

A Kotla-like partnership from these two would do nicely.

 

[sohaibsyed]

ok guys take care....pakistan are still not out of the woods. just need to get to the followon mark

 

[sohaibsyed]

so akmal should be getting cursed?...it was great innings....much better than a lot of other innings by other batsmen...bc this one came under immense pressure...to me that 119 was worth a triple hundred

I agree. really amazing the way he played.

 

[Hash]

) ) ) ) )

so what was it you were laughing at then Underworld57?

 

[Hash]

If we can somehow scrape our way to lunch I think we will have done enough to draw the game.

 

[purplehaze]

Amazes me how easy & simple things look when you have two gutsy batsman performing out in middle. Suddenly you find all nonsense excuses such as "poor umpiring", "excessive appeal", "bad pitch" etc. etc. vanish in no time ...

 

[Saj]

Super rearguard from Akmal and Misbah. The most important thing was that they payed each ball on merit, solid defense when it was needed, hit the bad ball for 4 and made it look ever so easy out there.

Well done to the pair of them and it shows just how far, guts and determination can carry you.

 

[UsmanhailsAfridi]

Amazes me how easy & simple things look when you have two gutsy batsman performing out in middle. Suddenly you find all nonsense excuses such as "poor umpiring", "excessive appeal", "bad pitch" etc. etc. vanish in no time ...

rona band kar ooye...

 

[flawed_genius]

I called misbah's hundred and went even further to say he will score 150!

Get on it!!!!!

 

[Amjid Javed]

Big blow for pakistan lossing Kami just before close. Pakistan need to bat until atleast lunch tomorrow to stay in game. Hopefully tail will wag and misbah can get a double ton!

 

[Rajan]

Excellent performance by Akmal and Misbah.It is quite debatable whether Akmal deserves his place as a keeper in Pak squad, but the man comes up with incredibly confident knocks and under pressure. he saved Pakistan in mohali test in the last series with a superb innings from Razzaq and Inzy, was instrumental in winning a test from 39 for 6 with a counter attacking hundred earlier. but this one could be his most satisfying innings because it comes after a lot of failures in the one day matches, especially at the top of the order, innumerable mistakes behind the stumps, under severe pressure to justify his place in team.

Misbah is the one player in this entire trip who has played the indian bowlers with a lot of assurance and confidence. his second innings performance at Delhi was important too considering he was very sick and the fact that he was a doubtful starter for this test with almost 6 days of high fever and to play a fighting innings, is stuff even great players aspire for. i remember,sachin and Azza put together an almost run a ball, 210+ partnership under great pressure against the SA attack of Donald and Co on a bouncy pitch there.

Another pleasing thing about Misbah is that, unlike Laxman and Sachin, he has shown shades of the brilliance of Inzy in shielding the lower order batsmen and continuing to score important runs to save the team.

It would be an interesting first hour of play tomorrow. Misbah is not at all troubled by any indian bowler, the spin is slow, so he can confidently play one big shot an over and pick his singles of the 5th or 6th balls every over. now and then Sami can even manage to play out a full over from Zaheer and patel. Harbhajan seems to be more trickier than Kumble at this point but let us see how kumble copes up with the pressure of restricting Pakistan below the follow on score.

it is debatable whether he will enforce the follow on even if he manages to bowl out Pakistan. Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly have not enforced follow on against NZ, England,Australia earlier when they were captains. being a bowler, if it come to making such a decision, it is not clear whether Kumble will opt for a couple of sessions of rest for his bowlers, using the heavy roller to break the pitch, put some more quick runs on the board to pile pressure, then give pakistan 20 overs in the last session?????

is there an outside chance of pakistan winning? avoiding the follow on-scoring 450- bowling out india for 180-scoring 350 odd in the 100 odd overs?
it would be an interesting couple of days of test cricket.

 

[jackal786]

Match is heading towards a solid draw.

 

[Underworld57]

so what was it you were laughing at then Underworld57?

i have suceeded

 

[jackal786]

In Bangalore test India was all out on 4th day morning conceding an 120 run lead. Pakistan came out guns blazing making 268 runs. Then India surrendered on day 5. If Pakistan survives morning session match will end in a draw.

 

[tmac4real]

what do you think are the chacnes

for me it's:

45-45-10
as in 45% chance india win, 45% chacne it's a draw, 10% pak win?

 

[iZeeshan]

Oh my dear God, how did this happen? Akmal for specialist batsman!

Now wait a second. I am not changing my words. I just want him dropped as a keeper.

INCREDIBLE knocks from both these two at a sublime rate! I WISH I had stayed awake and watched.

Sad though that Akmal went just towards the end of the day.

 

[Pathan007]

Oh my dear God, how did this happen? Akmal for specialist batsman!

Now wait a second. I am not changing my words. I just want him dropped as a keeper.

INCREDIBLE knocks from both these two at a sublime rate! I WISH I had stayed awake and watched.

Sad though that Akmal went just towards the end of the day.

i was going to sleep after lunch but i thought let's stay and watch one more wicket and that happened to be in the 2nd last over of the day.

 

[siimo]

Harbhajan produced an absolute peach to get rid of Akmal. His tail will be up come Monday. Look out Sami.

 

[deviously~fading~away]

In Bangalore test India was all out on 4th day morning conceding an 120 run lead. Pakistan came out guns blazing making 268 runs. Then India surrendered on day 5. If Pakistan survives morning session match will end in a draw.

True. It looks like this match is going down the same road.

 

[PlanetPakistan]

what do you think are the chacnes

for me it's:

45-45-10
as in 45% chance india win, 45% chacne it's a draw, 10% pak win?

Not really.
PAK don't have more than 3 or 4 percent chance of winning this test match.

 

[jackal786]

Still very slow turn except when it hits on certain spots. So if you don't press the panic button you can bat all day.

 

[jackal786]

One good luck sign is Misbha is clicking ! Any time he clicks against India, India gets a positive result.

 

[slix10]

One good luck sign is Misbha is clicking ! Any time he clicks against India, India gets a positive result.

Yes but whenever Akmal clicks, India loses for sure.

 

[slix10]

I still think we need to bat out a good 25 overs to ensure a draw..

 

[nitrous]

If PAK can manage to some how score about 100-150 more runs, then I think this game could be wide open if India fail batting again.

P.S Watch out for Kaneria...

 

[jackal786]

Yes but whenever Akmal clicks, India loses for sure.

He let Tendu score 53 runs more than he should have . Only one test resulted in win for Pakistan. Two other times ended in draw. But misbha.. T20, ODI, Tests he has some Jinx going around for him when he plays well against India.

 

[jackal786]

If PAK can manage to some how score about 100-150 more runs, then I think this game could be wide open if India fail batting again.

P.S Watch out for Kaneria...

If Kaneria is going to click in the second innings.. Indian bowlers will click just as well!