Captain Saurav Ganguly laboured his way into form with a patient century before Irfan Pathan produced a devastating spell to put India on the threshhold of a resounding victory in the first Test against Zimbabwe today.
The left-handed Ganguly (101) notched up his 12th Test hundred to come out of a prolonged form slump as the visitors rattled up 554 all out in their first innings to open up a huge lead of 275 and then leave the hosts tottering at 67 for six at close on the third day.
After Ganguly completed his first century in nearly two years, it was Pathan who stole the limelight at the Queen's Club ground late in the day with a brilliant spell of swing bowling to demolish the Zimbabwe top order, returning with figures of four for 35.
Harbhajan Singh, wicketless in the first innings, finally claimed his 200th Test wicket with the dismissal of Charles Coventry of what turned out to be the last ball of the day.
The Punjab off-spinner became the fastest Indian to reach the landmark in only 46 Tests.
The hosts were still trailing by 208 runs and with two full days left, it was just a matter of time before the Indians wrapped up the game for a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Ganguly's confidence-boosting century came at a painstakingly slow pace as he consumed 261 balls before perishing toGavin Ewing in the very next ball in a bid to force the pace of scoring.
Pathan, who grabbed his fourth career five-wicket haul in the first innings, was once again devastating as his deadly inswingers proved too much to cope up with for the hosts. With the innings in tatters at 18 for five, skipper Tatenda Taibu (30 not out) once again had to dig deep and there was some sort of recovery through his sixth-wicket partnership with Coventry (24).
But after adding 49 runs, Coventry, playing the last over of the day, groped forward to Harbhajan, only to see the ball bat-pad its way to Gautam Gambhir at forward shortleg.
Ganguly had waited for nearly two years and 13 Tests to add another century to his tally which was his 12th in his 83rd game.
There was a certain inevitability about it, given the stingless attack of Zimbabwe and the purpose with which the left-hander has batted in this innings.
India lost only wicket in the afternoon session as Pathan, after a stylishly composed 52, gave a return catch to left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa.
He put on 97 runs for the seventh wicket with Ganguly.
Earlier, overnight batsman V.V.S. Laxman was run out after pushed a delivery to mid-on and called for a single but Ganguly wasn't prone to respond to his call.
Laxman went away remonstrating but it must be said the mistake was all of his own making.
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In the morning, Zimbabwe made a brave comeback as they struck three vital blows to check India's progress. India were forced to crawl at snail's pace after losing three key batsmen to reach 396 for six at lunch, an addition of only 71 runs to their overnight total.
Laxman batted a little over five hours for 140 runs and hit 21 fours from 221 balls. He put on 128 runs for the fourth wicket with his skipper which took 159 minutes and 208 balls.
Yuvraj Singh seemed in brilliant touch during his short stay and couple of his off-drives were a treat to watch.
He then tried to flick a stump-delivery from left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa tomid-wicket and yorked himself for 12 runs.
India suffered another loss when wicketkeeper Dinesh Kaarthick (1) edged Andy Blignaut low towards first slip and wicketkeeperTaibu dived to his right to pick up a stunning one-handed catch.
Ganguly, just before the break, was troubled by his contact lenses which seemed to have moved away from their original positioning.
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PTI
