Bowlers are back in business

Karachi: Now this is cricket! For the first time in this series, it was a day for the bowlers.

India's Irfan Pathan fully utilised the green on the wicket and the early morning conditions to wipe off the cream of Pakistan's batting on the first day of the third and final Test with a stunning first over hat-trick.

And then Pakistan's Kamran Akmal launched a vicious counter-attack to notch a century in the toughest of conditions to score 113 (148b, 18x4).

It was an exciting day's play and for the first time in the series, there was an intense battle between the ball and bat. An India-Pakistan clash had lived up to its grandeur once again.

Though India bowled out Pakistan for 245, they found themselves reduced to 74 for four by close of play.

India got off to a dream start. Pathan, in full flow, was a treat to watch. He produced one of the finest hat-tricks in the history of the game by wiping off the first three batsmen in the very first over.

It began with the fourth ball of the day, Pathan producing a beauty to force Salman Butt to edge to Rahul Dravid at slip. In the very next ball, he trapped the consistent Younis Khan leg before. The hat-trick ball was a beauty: it pitched and curved in to clean bowl Mohammad Yousuf, who was just 22 runs short of the 5,000 run-mark. Three wickets down for zero plunged the Sunday crowd into silence. It was hard to believe that Pakistan, who had piled up over 500 runs in every innings of this series, could crumble in this fashion.

It was the first time in the history of the game that a bowler has bagged a hat-trick in the first over of the match. Pathan also became the second Indian to do so after Harbhajan Singh's feat against Australia at Kolkata in 2001.

It was also the third instance in the history of the game when three wickets fell without a run being scored. In 1952, India had once lost four wickets without adding a single run against England.

Haq ruled out

The day began on a bad note for Pakistan with skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq unable to recover from back pain. Younis Khan, leading the side, lost the toss for Pakistan for the first time in this series.

Judging the conditions correctly, Dravid decided to field and the Indian bowlers rose to the challenge. Faisal Iqbal, who replaced Inzamam, held on for 20 minutes before Zaheer Khan produced a beauty to trap him leg before for 5.

Afridi was then clean bowled for 10. With half the side back in the pavilion by the 24th over, Pakistan looked likely to bowled out for under 100 runs.

Abdul Razzaq and Kamran Akmal then put their heads down to steer Pakistan to relative safety. Akmal exhibited his resolve with a sparkling square drive off Singh. He followed that up with a cover drive. The pair lifted the team out of trouble with a fighting 115-run partnership in 160 balls.

Razzaq was finally trapped leg before by Singh for 45 (79b, 7x4). Akmal went on to notch his fourth Test 100 (130b, 16x4). Akhtar chipped in with a useful 45 (60b, 8x4, 1x6) before Pathan completed a five-wicket haul.

With 14 wickets falling on the first day, this Test is bound to produce a result. The debate is whether the match will even last five days.

Pakistan (1st Innings)

Salman Butt c Dravid b Pathan 0

Imran Farhat c Dhoni b Singh 22

Younis Khan lbw b Pathan 0

Mohammad Yousuf b Pathan 0

Faisal Iqbal lbw b Zaheer 5

Shahid Afridi b Zaheer 10

Abdul Razzaq lbw b Singh 45

Kamran Akmal c Dhoni b Pathan 113

Shoaib Akhtar c Yuvraj b Pathan 45

Mohammad Asif c Laxman b Singh 0

Danish Kaneria not out 0

Extras (2lb, 2w, 1nb) 5

Total (all out) 245

Overs: 60.1.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-13, 5-37, 6-39, 7-154, 8-236, 9-245, 10-245.

Bowling: Pathan 17.1-4-61-5, Zaheer 15-2-75-2, Rudra Pratap Singh 16-1-66-3, Ganguly 2-0-9-0, Kumble 10-1-32-0.

India (1st Innings)

V.V. S. Laxman b Asif 19

Rahul Dravid c Akmal b Asif 3

Virender Sehwag c Akmal b Akhtar 5

Sachin Tendulkar b Razzaq 23

Sourav Ganguly not out 9

Yuvraj Singh not out 7

Extras (1lb, 7nb) 8

Total (For four wickets) 74

Overs: 16.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-14, 3-56, 4-56.

Bowling: Akhtar 6-1-26-1, Asif 7-0-29-2, Razzaq 3-1-18-1.