Karachi Test First Day

Pathan hat-trick fires up India

Irfan Pathan got India off to a flying start in the third and final Test against Pakistan in Karachi. The left-arm seamer completed a stunning hat-trick in the very first over to leave the home side reeling. Pathan had Salman Butt caught at first slip by Rahul Dravid, trapped Younis Khan lbw and bowled Mohammad Yousuf with another big inswinger.

Karachi Test Second Day

India struggling to keep pace; Pak leads by 180

Pakistan bowled India out seven runs behind on first innings on day two of the third Test in Karachi to keep the series in the balance.Mohammad Asif finished with 4-78 as India were stopped on 238, with no batsman passing 50. Sourav Ganguly (34) and Yuvraj Singh (45) were part of a morning collapse but Irfan Pathan (40) shared a 56-run ninth-wicket stand with Zaheer Khan. Pathan made a patient start before cutting loose, with six fours and a six off Shoaib, before getting a leading edge off spinner Shahid Afridi to long-on.
Pakistani openers made 109 before Salman Butt was lbw'd by Ganguly for 53. Imran Farhat put on 57.

Karachi Test Third Day

Pak extends lead to 518

Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan piled on the runs, and Shahid Afridi scooped on the misery before Faisal Iqbal, the comeback kid, produced a maiden century to shut India out of the Karachi Test. It was only the fourth time that all six top-order batsmen had made at least a half-century and by stumps, Pakistan's lead had swelled to an insurmountable 518. With two days still to play and no team having made more than 418 to win a Test, Pakistan were perfectly placed to push for the victory that would avenge the series loss on home soil two years ago.
India's star line-up, led by captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, will have to bat out at least five sessions to prevent Pakistan from winning the match and the series after the first two Tests were drawn. It is an unenviable task even though the National stadium pitch appeared to have eased out from the seaming track that produced 14 wickets on the first day and eight on the second. The world record for the most successful fourth innings chase in history is 7-418 by West Indies against Australia in St John's, Antigua in 2003.

Karachi Test Fourth Day

Pakistan stun India to win series

Pakistan crushed India by 341 runs with more than a day to spare in Karachi to take their first Test series win over their neighbours for 19 years.
All-rounder Abdul Razzaq took four wickets as the tourists were bundled out for 265 late in the day. Faisal Iqbal's Test-best 139 had led to a Pakistan declaration on 599-7. And left with the hopeless task of scoring 607 to win, India's batsmen all floundered save Yuvraj Singh, who battled away to score a defiant 112.
It was India's second heaviest defeat by a runs margin in their Test history.

Karachi Test Scoreboard

Day Three

Pakistan 1st Innings 245 all out (60.1 overs)	Pakistan 2nd Innings 599 for 7 (140.1 overs)
India 1st Innings 238 all out (54.1 overs)	India 2nd Innings 265 all out (58.4 overs)

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Salman Butt	c R Dravid	b I K Pathan	0	4	0	0
Imran Farhat	c M S Dhoni	b R P Singh	22	29	5	0
Younis Khan	lbw	b I K Pathan	0	1	0	0
Mohammad Yousuf		b I K Pathan	0	1	0	0
Faisal Iqbal	lbw	b Z Khan	5	13	1	0
Shahid Afridi		b Z Khan	10	14	1	0
Abdul Razzaq	lbw	b R P Singh	45	79	7	0
Kamran Akmal	c M S Dhoni	b I K Pathan	113	148	18	0
Shoaib Akhtar	c Yuvraj Singh	b I K Pathan	45	60	8	1
Mohammad Asif	c V V S Laxman	b R P Singh	0	11	0	0
Danish Kaneria	not out		0	2	0	0
Extras		1nb 2w 2lb	5
Total		all out	245

Bowler O M R W I K Pathan 17.1 4 61 5 Z Khan 15.0 2 75 2 R P Singh 16.0 1 66 3 S C Ganguly 2.0 0 9 0 A Kumble 10.0 1 32 0

Fall of wicket   0 Salman Butt 0 Younis Khan 0 Mohammad Yousuf 13 Faisal Iqbal 37 Shahid Afridi 39 Imran Farhat 154 Abdul Razzaq 236 Kamran Akmal 245 Mohammad Asif 245 Shoaib Akhtar

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
V V S Laxman		b Mohammad Asif	19	36	4	0
R Dravid	c Kamran Akmal	b Mohammad Asif	3	12	0	0
V Sehwag	c Kamran Akmal	b Shoaib Akhtar	5	4	1	0
S R Tendulkar		b Abdul Razzaq	23	29	5	0
S C Ganguly	c Mohammad Asif	b Abdul Razzaq	34	53	6	0
Yuvraj Singh	lbw	b Mohammad Asif	45	74	8	0
M S Dhoni	c Kamran Akmal	b Abdul Razzaq	13	13	3	0
I K Pathan	c Mohammad Yousuf	b Shahid Afridi	40	51	6	1
A Kumble	lbw	b Shoaib Akhtar	7	31	0	0
Z Khan	c Kamran Akmal	b Mohammad Asif	21	37	2	0
R P Singh	not out		0	1	0	0
Extras		17nb 8b 3lb	28
Total		all out	238

Bowler O M R W Shoaib Akhtar 16.0 3 70 2 Mohammad Asif 19.1 1 78 4 Abdul Razzaq 16.0 3 67 3 Shahid Afridi 3.0 0 12 1

Fall of wicket   9 R Dravid 14 V Sehwag 56 V V S Laxman 56 S R Tendulkar 137 S C Ganguly 165 Yuvraj Singh 165 M S Dhoni 181 A Kumble 237 I K Pathan 238 Z Khan

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Salman Butt	lbw	b S C Ganguly	53	74	10	0
Imran Farhat	c S R Tendulkar	b I K Pathan	57	87	10	0
Younis Khan	lbw	b A Kumble	77	122	11	0
Mohammad Yousuf	lbw	b A Kumble	97	161	12	0
Faisal Iqbal	c S R Tendulkar	b Z Khan	139	220	16	1
Shahid Afridi	c S R Tendulkar	b R P Singh	60	46	9	1
Abdul Razzaq	c Yuvraj Singh	b A Kumble	90	141	5	4
Kamran Akmal	not out		0	1	0	0
Extras		11nb 1w 7b 7lb	26
Total		for 7	599

Bowler O M R W I K Pathan 25.0 3 106 1 Z Khan 28.0 4 103 1 R P Singh 24.0 1 115 1 A Kumble 37.1 3 151 3 S C Ganguly 16.0 1 68 1 V Sehwag 1.0 0 2 0 S R Tendulkar 9.0 0 40 0

Fall of wicket   109 Salman Butt 122 Imran Farhat 280 Younis Khan 318 Mohammad Yousuf 402 Shahid Afridi 598 Faisal Iqbal 599 Abdul Razzaq

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
V Sehwag		b Mohammad Asif	4	5	1	0
R Dravid	c Kamran Akmal	b Shoaib Akhtar	2	4	0	0
V V S Laxman		b Mohammad Asif	21	34	2	0
S R Tendulkar		b Mohammad Asif	26	47	5	0
S C Ganguly	lbw	b Abdul Razzaq	37	56	6	0
Yuvraj Singh	c Kamran Akmal	b Abdul Razzaq	122	144	19	1
M S Dhoni	c Imran Farhat	b Abdul Razzaq	18	35	4	0
I K Pathan	c Faisal Iqbal	b Abdul Razzaq	4	6	1	0
A Kumble	c Imran Farhat	b Danish Kaneria	5	5	1	0
Z Khan		b Danish Kaneria	10	17	2	0
R P Singh	not out		0	3	0	0
Extras		4nb 5w 7b	16
Total		all out	265

Bowler O M R W Shoaib Akhtar 8.0 1 37 1 Mohammad Asif 12.0 1 48 3 Abdul Razzaq 18.4 0 88 4 Danish Kaneria 18.0 0 75 2 Shahid Afridi 2.0 0 10 0

Fall of wicket   8 R Dravid 8 V Sehwag 63 V V S Laxman 74 S R Tendulkar 177 S C Ganguly 177 M S Dhoni 216 I K Pathan 231 A Kumble 251 Z Khan 265 Yuvraj Singh

Umpires: D J Harper, S J A Taufel
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Danish Kaneria
India: V Sehwag, R Dravid, V V S Laxman, S R Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, S C Ganguly, M S Dhoni, I K Pathan, Z Khan, R P Singh, A Kumble

Indian Cricket Team for Karachi Test

India XI: V Sehwag, R Dravid (Capt), V V S Laxman, S R Tendulkar Yuvraj Singh, S C Ganguly, M S Dhoni (Wkt), I K Pathan, Z Khan R P Singh, A Kumble

Pakistan Cricket Team for Karachi Test

Pakistan XI: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan (Capt) Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (Wkt) Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Danish Kaneria

The Venue

Karachi, Pakistan's largest and most populous city, presents an interesting and colourful combination of the old and new. The National Stadium became Karachi's fifth and Pakistan's 11th first-class ground. The inaugural first-class match was played at NSK between Pakistan and India on April 21-24, 1955, and it became a fortress of Pakistan cricket. In 34 Tests between that first match and December 2000, Pakistan won 17 and were never beaten. Their only Test defeat on the ground came in the gloom against England in 2000-01. Since then, major terrorist activity, mainly bombings, have meant that non Asian sides have refused to play in the city, and in five years only Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have visited. It is a shame because the spectators are passionate - and noisy - and it is a great place to play and watch. The first ODI at the National Stadium was against West Indies on November 21, 1980, and it went down to the last ball as Gordon Greenidge drove Imran imperiously to the cover boundary with three needed. It has been a far less successful limited-overs venue, with defeats outnumbering victories. In fact, in a little under five years from the start of 1996, Pakistan failed to win on the ground. It also staged a quarter-final match in the 1996-97 World Cup.