Pakistan seamers Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Asif shared seven wickets on Wednesday and engineered India’s second-heaviest-ever defeat on the fourth day of the third and decisive cricket Test to clinch the series 1-0.
Pakistan’s 341-run victory fell just one short of India’s previous biggest-ever defeat, when Australia won the Nagpur Test by 342 runs in the 2004/05 season.
India were dismissed for 265 in 58,4 overs after Pakistan set a never-achieved victory target of 607 runs. Pakistan got a slender seven-run first-innings lead when they scored 245 and then restricted India to 238.
”It was a tremendous victory especially after we were six down for 39 in the first innings,” said Pakistan captain Younis Khan, who led the side in the decisive Test in the absence of injured Inzamam-ul-Haq.
”In the end it was a good toss to lose because the wicket got better for batting on the third day,” Khan added.
The victory was Pakistan’s best-ever win in Test matches, bettering the 301-run win against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1994.
”We were outclassed,” said Indian skipper Rahul Dravid. ”The way we played the new ball was critical in the match. We were four down in the first 20 overs in both innings and we didn’t bowl as well as we could have.”
Yuvraj Singh (122) compiled a gritty century and was the last wicket to fall when Kamran Akmal took a tumbling catch behind the wickets to give Razzaq (4-88) his fourth wicket.
Asif had brought Pakistan in sight of victory when he bowled an exciting spell with the new ball and took three wickets for 48 runs.
”He [Asif] bowled just like Australian Glen McGrath and his early wickets made a huge impact on the game,” Khan said.
Yuvraj launched a counterattack and smashed 19 boundaries and a six in his innings, but was dropped on 77 and 97.
He added 103 runs in the only worthwhile stand, with former captain Sourav Ganguly (37) before Razzaq struck thrice in the last session.
Razzaq had Ganguly trapped leg before wicket off the first delivery after tea and removed Mahendra Dhoni (18) and Irfan Pathan (4) in his successive overs.
Asif, the 23-year-old right-arm paceman, clean bowled Sachin Tendulkar (26), VVS Laxman (21) and Virender Sehwag (4), while Shoaib Akhtar won a contentious caught-behind decision against captain Rahul Dravid.
Australian umpire Daryl Harper took a long time before declaring Dravid out, as the television replays showed that the Akhtar’s fifth ball of the first over might have missed the outside edge of the Indian captain’s bat.
India’s slump began in the first two overs after Pakistan declared their second innings at 599 for seven an hour before lunch.
Asif sent Sehwag’s middle stump tumbling off his third ball to leave India hobbling at eight for two. Tendulkar and Laxman added 55 runs before Asif baffled them with perfect inswingers and knocked back the stumps that left India struggle at 74-4.
”Against a good quality seam attack not only us, [but] anyone could have faced a problem,” Dravid said. ”Asif hit the seam on the deck regularly at the right line and I have no doubt his bowling in both innings made the difference.”
Pakistan overnight batsmen Faisal Iqbal (139) and Razzaq (90) earlier added a rapid 88 runs in the first hour after they resumed the second innings at the overnight 511 for five.
Iqbal, who completed his maiden Test century in the last over on Tuesday evening, holed out in the deep in search of quick runs after adding 196 runs in less than a minute in a sixth-wicket stand with Razzaq.
Iqbal, nephew of Pakistan’s former captain and coach Javed Miandad, faced 220 balls in his five-hour, 139-run knock and hit 16 fours and a six.
Three balls later, Pakistan declared their second innings after Razzaq was also caught at the boundary, hitting four sixes and five boundaries in his 141-ball knock.
Leg-spinner Anil Kumble took three wickets for 151 runs while the three-man seam attack of Pathan, Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh all grabbed one wicket each, but also conceded more than 100 runs.
Both teams will now meet in the five-match limited-overs series, starting at Peshawar from February 6. — Sapa-AP