Seamers Hold Sway

India had Pakistan on the mat before allowing them to reach a fighting 224 and then lost Virender Sehwag to the first ball of the innings on the opening day of the series-deciding third Testat Rawalpindi today.

Put in to bat on a seaming wicket, the hosts were reeling at 137 for eight before the Indians faltered to allowtail-enders Mohammad Sami (49) and Fazl-e-Akbar (25) add 70 runs for the ninth wicket.

Eventually, the innings folded at 224, Lakshmipathy Balaji taking a career-best 4 for 63.

The start to the Indian innings could not have been more dramatic as speedster Shoaib Akhtar's first delivery took theedge of Sehwag's bat and Yasir Hameed grabbed a brilliant, tumbling catch at gully.

Wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, the other opener, and Rahul Dravid stayed unseparated at the end of a dramatic day's playto take India to 23 for one in 15 overs at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, hosting the 50th Test between the arch-rivals.

The Indians did not repeat the mistake of Lahore when they elected to bat on a lively track, and were rewarded inample measure.

Balaji did the bulk of the damage in helpful conditions while Ashish Nehra, playing his first match of the three-Testseries, and Irfan Pathan chipped in with two wickets each before Sami's heroics pulled the hosts out of the pits.

The Pakistan innings came to an end about 35 minutes before the scheduled close of play when Sami was run out by adirect hit by Pathan while trying to steal a a run which could have given his maiden half century.

After initially failing to control the swing on a grassy track, the Indian bowlers got their act together to ripthrough the batting line up but failed to polish off the tail as Sami and Akbar batted resolutely to giverespectability to the total.

The home team lost Imran Farhat (16), Taufiq Umar (9), Yasir Hameed (26) and Inzamam-ul haq (15) before lunch andanother four after the break to lose the plot in the do-or-die encounter.

India's new ball operators -- Pathan and Balaji, eager to exploit the conditions, tried a little too hard and as aresult were guilty of straying in line and length, allowing the two Pakistani openers to settle down. 

But just when it looked like Farhat and Umar would see through the crucial first hour, Balaji got the  breakthrough for his team in the first over of his second spell, getting rid of Umar for nine.

The left-handed Umar was trapped leg before wicket with a ball that came in sharply, while Nehra, included in the teamin place of Ajit Agarkar, evicted Farhat in the very next over to reduce the home team to 34 for two bythe 12th over, justifying Ganguly's decision to bowl first on a grassy track.

Farhat, who looked quite comfortable, was trapped leg before to a gem of a delivery fromNehra.

Hameed and the in-form captain Inzamam took the score to 77 before Pathan joined the party by removing Hameedwho has struggled right through the high-profile series. The right-hander had himself to blame for his dismissal as hetried to play at an outside the off stump delivery and  only succeeded in edging to V.V.S. Laxman at second slip.

The home team suffered a huge jolt in the very next over when Nehra captured the prized scalp of Inzamam inducing himto edge an outswinger to Patel behind the stumps.

The Indians continued their good work in the post-lunch session by taking four more wickets to leave the hoststottering at 137 for eight but allowed the game to drift by failing to clean up the last two batsmen.

Balaji snapped up three wickets in the post-lunch session accounting for the wickets of Asim Kamal (21), Kamran Akmal(17) and Shoaib Akhtar (0) in a span of seven overs.

The Tamil Nadu paceman first ejected Kamal by trapping him leg before wicket with a superb delivery and thensent back Akmal, who slammed four boundaries during his brief stay at the crease.

Shoaib lasted just two balls as he was cleaned up by a outswinger.

With his three pace bowlers tiring out, Ganguly introduced leg-spinner Anil Kumble late in the post-lunchsession but the experienced spinner was also frustrated for quite some time before he managed to dismiss last Pakistaniwicket by evicting Akbar.

PTI