Misbah, Akmal score centuries to lead fightback

India’s hopes of enforcing the follow on against Pakistan in the second Test may have been thrown out of the window, courtesy of scintillating centuries from Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal. The former brought up his maiden Test hundred – having missed the milestone in the Delhi Test by 18 runs.

India let Pakistan off the hook after seizing the early initiative as Kamran Akmal and Misbah-ul Haq posted hundreds to boost the visitors' hopes of avoiding the follow-on on the third day of the second Test match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

After gobbling up half of the touring side for 150 in the morning session, the Indians could not press home the advantage as Akmal (119) and Misbah (108 unbeaten) steadied the rocking boat with a 207-run stand for the sixth wicket to enable their side to reach a respectable 358/6 when bad light stopped play with two overs yet to be bowled. India piled up 616/5 declared in their first innings.

However, Pakistan needed a further 59 runs to force India to bat again, and the morning session on Day 3 could prove to be crucial in deciding the fate of the Kolkata Test.

Akmal, who has a tremendous past record playing against India and the in-form Misbah-ul Haq played patiently on the dry wicket to defy the Indian bowlers for 259 minutes, and in the process setting up a new record on the ground for the sixth wicket.

The earlier record stood in the name of West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels who authored a 195-run partnership in 2002-03.

The morning session belonged to the Indians as they picked up four Pakistan batsmen to put India in the drivers’ seat. Off spinner Habhajan Singh snared Salman Butt (42) and Mohammad Yousuf (6) while skipper Anil Kumble foxed Faisal Iqbal (0).

In between, Munaf Patel got the prized wicket of stand-in skipper Younus Khan (43), who chased an away going delivery to gift a simple catch to wicket keeper MS Dhoni.

But Akmal and Misbah took Pakistan out of the rut after coming together eight minutes before lunch. The duo played contrasting knocks in the second session, with Misbah cutting down on his aggressive style to tailor the game to the needs of the team.

But Akmal was a study in contrast. He wielded his willow in style punishing the loose balls, and dominated the partnership as the visitors reached 256/5 at tea.

Both batsmen benefited from dropped chances. While Sachin Tendulkar failed to latch on to a diving catch at mid-on when Misbah was 22, Akmal was lucky to survive on 88. He went for a short arm pull off Zaheer Khan and Munaf failed to judge the catch at deep fine leg.

The 300 of the innings came in 355 minutes, before Akmal reached his fifth Test hundred, four of them having come against India – 35 minutes into the last session with a delicate cut that raced to the backward point fence. The three-fugure mark was reached in 197 minutes off 173 balls.

Misbah reached his maiden Test ton a litle later with a boundary off Kumble. But Harbhajan the most successful of Indian bowlers with figures of 3/86, brought back cheers into the Indian camp by seeing the back of the gutsy wicketkeeper with a delivery that spun back sharply to uproot the off-stump. Akmal's 259-minute stint was embellished with 20 hits to the ropes.