Irfan Pathan grabbed a career-best seven wicket haul as he ripped through the fragile Zimbabwe batting order to put India in the driver's seat in the second and final Test today.
The left-arm speedster produced another devastating spell of swing bowling to skittle out the hosts for a paltry 161 in just 44.2 overs, returning with dream figures of seven for 59 to steal the limelight on the opening day at the Harare Sports Club.
The young Gautam Gambhir then took centrestage with a rollicking unbeaten 95 as the visitors reached 195 for one at close, taking a lead of 34 runs with nine wickets in hand.
The seasoned Rahul Dravid was giving Gambhir company on 49 in what turned out to be a highly satisfying day for the Indians after putting the Zimbabweans in to bat on a track which provided some assistance to the seam bowlers.
The hosts could not really negotiate the left-arm swing bowling of Pathan who had also tormented the Zimbabweans in the first Test in Bulawayo where he took nine wickets.
Barring Charles Coventry who top scored with a 32-ball 37, none of the home team batsmen could survive for long though they did quite well to cross the 150-mark after tottering at 31 for four at one stage.
The Zimbabwe innings lasted barely three hours as Pathan kept picking up wickets at regular intervals to capture his fifth five-wicket haul in his brief Test career.
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Opener Gambhir is in sight of his second Test century and so seems to be the intent of Rahul Dravid as the two have put on 120 runs for the unbroken second wicket after Virender Sehwag (44) provided his usual but brief cameo of 44 runs from 44 balls.
Zimbabwe were asked to take first strike on a juicy wicket and it appeared too much for them to cope with the swing of Pathan who took three wickets inside his first six overs.
Zimbabwe, 75 for 5 at lunch, lost the remaining wickets in a little over an hour on resumption as Pathan added four more scalps in his kitty to finish with best-ever figures in his nascent career.
The hosts were destined to do all the running after losing their first four wickets for 31 runs asthe slips and wicketkeeper did some catching practice.
Harbhajan Singh too helped himself to a couple of scalps which appeared a bounty given the speed with which Pathan was going through hosts' line-up.
Both Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan did not get to bowl again in the second session as wickets continued to fall rapidly.
India started soundly and had progressed to 43 for no loss by the tea break.
Sehwag opened out after tea and looked ominous before umpire Darryl Harper ruled him out caught behind, a decision which can best be described as outrageous.
Gambir was in no mood to let go on the easy pickings and some of his drives and cuts were sumptuous to watch.
But the batting of the day clearly came from Dravid who played some breathtaking drives and cuts against the hapless Zimbabwe bowlers.
The left-handed Gambhir slowed down a little bit in the 90's and was quite content in playing defensively and wait for the century.
Dravid, who looked quite comfortable right through his innings, was also just one run short of his half century and the duo will look to consolidate India's position on the morrow.
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PTI
