Pakistan staged an incredible fightback to save thefirst Test against India from the jaws of defeat, finding an unlikely hero inKamran Akmal who slammed a maiden century under immense pressure today.
The 23-year-old Akmal produced a match-turning 109 andshared a record 186-run seventh wicket partnership with Abdul Razzak (71) tothwart India's march for a victory on the fifth and final day which saw fortuneschange dramatically for the visitors.
When the Pakistanis started the day at 257 for six, itwas expected that India would wrap up the innings in the first session itself.
But instead Pakistan, who had conceded a first inningslead of 204, rode on the wicketkeeper-batsman's brilliance to declare theirsecond innings at 496 for nine, giving India an improbable target of 293 from 25overs.
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India were 85 for one in 17 overs when the match wascalled off. Virender Sehwag was the batsman to be dismissed for 36 while GautamGambhir remained unbeaten on 32.
When play started on the final day, the Indian captainSaurav Ganguly made it clear that he meant business by taking the second newball in the 81st over itself and handing it to his most successful seamers IrfanPathan and Laxmipathy Balaji.
But the two overnight batsmen Akmal and Razzaq stoodfirm defying the Indian attack for almost two sessions making the issue safe forPakistan.
This was Pakistan's highest score in India, improving upon their 487 for ninethey made at Chennai in 1986-87.
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Akmal and Razzaq joined hands when the side wasstruggling at 243 for six yesterday and they stitched together an innings thatturned the match on its head helping Pakistan salvage a draw from a grimsituation.
Akmal was the more attacking of the two scoring hisruns from 154 balls with the help of 15 fours while his senior partner Razzaqwas content on playing the sheet-anchor's role.
Razzaq curbed his attacking instincts, as was thedemand of the situation, to came up with his knock from 260 balls with fourfours and one six off Anil Kumble.
The two added 184 runs, a Pakistani record for theseventh wicket against India, to frustrate the home team bowlers who had anordinary outing at the PCA stadium.
The Indians had themselves to blame for allowingPakistan to see off the morning session as they failed to come up with adisciplined bowling attack that had given them an upper hand coming into thefinal day.
The two batsmen appeared tentative early on when theyplayed and missed on a number of occasions. But once they settled down, therewas nothing the Indian bowlers could do to trouble them.
Barring Balaji, no other bowler was looking like takinga wicket even though Kumble finished with four scalps to take his Test tally to450 wickets.
Balaji followed his maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings with figures of four for 95 in the second, assuringhimself a place in the final eleven for the second Test at Kolkata, starting on March 16.
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After failing to get a wicket in the first session with both Akmal and Razzaq playing cautiously, India broke the partnership four hours into play today when Balaji dismissed the wicketkeeper-batsman at the team's score of 427.
But by then it was too late for India as Akmal had done much more than what his team could have asked for.
After frustrating the Indians for close to four hours on the final day, Akmal was dismissed when he was brilliantly caught by substitute Harbhajan Singh in the cover region. Seven runs later, Razzaq edged Kumble to Rahul Dravid in the slips.
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Their seventh-wicket stand was the best ever for Pakistan against India, improving upon the 154 put together by Imran Khan and Ijaj Faqih in Ahmedabad during the 1986-87 series.
The tail-enders then chipped in as Pakistan declared their innings at 496 for nine withRana Naved-ul Hasan, with a quickfire 38, and Danish Kaneria (4) remaining not out.
India opted for useful practice in their second innings with opener Gambhir executing some stunning shots on the offside. Sehwag on the other hand was in a more sedate mood and scored only eight in the team's first 50.
But he began to hit some booming drives and overtook his younger partner before losing his wicket to Younis Khan.
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PTI
