The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : The third Test could be a cracker of a contest

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Thursday, Dec 06, 2007
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The third Test could be a cracker of a contest

S. Dinakar

Kolkata: If India drops its guard at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the hunter could become the hunted. Teams fighting back from the brink can be dangerous.

Pakistan came back from the dead at the Eden Gardens. The partnership between Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal has infused life into the IndianOil Test series. The third Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium could be a cracker.

India would start as the favourite but Pakistan covered plenty of ground in the second half of the second Test. Apart from the heroics of Misbah and Akmal, the return to form of Younis Khan, and to a lesser extent, Mohammad Yousuf, has given the line-up more solidity.

Shoaib factor

The Indian batsmen will have to face a fit Shoaib Akhtar running in hard in the third Test. The pace spearhead operated with rhythm and control in the Indian second innings.

India should have done better at Eden Gardens. Pakistan was bleeding at 150 for five in the first innings when the contest changed shades.

India will think long and hard about including a third spinner in the eleven.

The Pakistani batsmen indulged in effective pad play in the second innings and spin attack could do with greater variety. Perhaps Kumble erred in aiming at the rough outside the right-hander’s leg-stump; such a ploy rules out the leg-before decision and encourages pad play but with the winter moisture preventing the otherwise dry wicket from breaking up, he had little option.

Murali Kartik would add to the attack since Pakistan does not possess a left-hander in the middle-order. A left-arm spinner is quite the most effective bowler against the right-hander and bowlers of this breed have done well in the past at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

A left-arm spinner is essentially a round the wicket bowler and Kartik would explore different angles. If the side thinks horses for courses then Kartik fits into the line-up. Such a move might not send the right signals about the composition of the attack, but then the second specialist paceman has not made much of a difference for the host in the series.

Misbah evolving

Misbah-ul-Haq has grown in stature. Kumble made an interesting observation during the match when he revealed that Misbah had time to play the spinners. And this can be possible only if the batsman reads the spinners from the hand. The batsmen who tend to play spinners off the pitch are bound to be caught out on a surface assisting the spinners. They can get away with their methods though on slow turners such as the one at Eden Gardens.

Someone like Misbah is bound to play the spinners adeptly. He has two essential attributes — footwork and soft hands.

Despite a resurgence of sorts, Pakistan would have to do all the running in the third Test.

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