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Inzamam, Youhana miss centuries

Steve Waugh was supposed to do two things right - win the toss and then elect to bat on a nice, hard and bouncy Gabba track which had a little bit of moisture. He won the toss all right, but put Pakistan into bat, tempted by the brittleness of the Pakistan top order. At the end of the day, the game stood pretty even making for an absorbing second day's play.

Pakistan went in with five regular bowlers, surprisingly omitting Saqlain Mushtaq and opting for leggie Mushtaq Ahmed instead. Interestingly, the last time Pakistan played in Australia, Mushtaq created havoc and picked 9 wickets, winning the Test single-handedly. Australia picked Scott Muller ahead of Colin Miller for the game, probably expecting him to extract bounce from the hard wicket at the Gabba.

Mohammed Wasim was promoted up the order with Saeed Anwar and he, after the initial nerves, settled down well to prevent a top order collapse. The key to succeeding here was to play out the first hour of play since there was moisture in the wicket which did assist the opening bowlers, McGrath and Fleming. Wasim was time and again disturbed by the extra bounce in the track and was given a life when a steep delivery from Fleming found the shoulder of the bat and flew over the slip cordon. McGrath tested Mohammed Wasim with some steep bouncers, but the youngster seemed determined and played the short stuff well.

Wasim is a fluent strokemaker and a gritty customer as well. A delivery from McGrath travelling at 130 km/hr hit Wasim on his chest and all he did was smile back at the bowler and take guard ready for the next delivery.

McGrath was consistently touching the 128km/hr mark and troubled Saeed as well as Wasim. In one particular over McGrath troubled Saeed with some superb late movement. He squared him up with a beauty, which pitched and moved a fraction away from the bat; the next two balls were unplayable as well.

The openers hung in there and kept the scoreboard ticking away at a fair pace. The first hour of play fetched the tourists 42 runs from 16 brisk overs from the Aussies, with all their wickets intact. The Aussies struck back immediately after drinks when Mohammed Wasim nicked one from Fleming to the keeper, Gilchrist, giving him his first catch in Tests. The ball from Fleming just moved a shade away and took the edge on its way to the keeper.

The Aussies celebrated again in the same over when a cocky Ijaz Ahmed played indecisively, wondering whether to play at the ball or leave it alone, and Shane Warne standing at first slip grabbed a great catch diving to his right.

From a healthy 42 for no loss, Pakistan slumped to 42/2 and the brittleness of the Pakistan top order stood exposed. Steve Waugh must have been patting himself for the decision, but his joy was curtailed, when Inzamam and Saeed, who was growing in confidence with every minute spent at the crease, put together a solid partnership scoring at a brisk pace and unsettling the bowlers by consistently finding the fence. The Pakistan 50 came in 109 balls at a run-rate of 2.83. The next fifty came in only 63 balls. The run-rate at that point was 3.61 an over. At lunch, Pakistan were 107/2 of 29 overs with Saeed on a fluent 61 and Inzamam on 21.

The Pakistan skipper must be a happy man seeing his main batsman, Saeed and Inzamam, starting the Test series on a positive note by being amongst the runs. Saeed's fifty came of 84 balls and was studded with 5 fours and he spent 117 minutes at the crease.

Shane Warne came to bowl a couple of overs just before lunch and was greeted with a four by Inzamam who had decided to go after the blond leggie. Shane was unlucky not to have got the wicket of Saeed when he skied Warne and saw the ball fall in no man's land. Saeed pushed at one from Warne, which turned away from the batsman, took the edge and Mark Waugh held onto a low catch at first slip.

Yousuf Youhana seems to be improving with every outing and seems to have filled in the void created by the absence of Salim Malik. He played a couple of aerial shots but picked his gaps well and found the fence with amazing ease. Pakistan batsmen played very positively, looking to score runs despite the loss of three wickets.

Inzamam survived a close leg before appeal against Warne, but the ball turned a little too much and would have missed off-stump. With the score on 148, Youhana tried to cut one from Warne, which hurried onto the batsman and flew off the edge, forcing Mark Waugh at first slip to take evasive action. The ball hit him on the back and a chance went abegging.

But Inzamam was in no mood to spare Warne and he played some brilliant strokes, the pick being the off-drive, which found the long off fence.

Scott Muller reminds one of his mentor Craig McDermott, the same run-up and the same aggression. He however lacks the class and failed to impress and took some stick from the Pakistan batsman, each time he erred a bit in his line.

In a bizarre event, Inzamam played the ball back to the bowler, Scott, who promptly picked up the ball in an effort to throw down the stumps and hit the burly Inzamam on his foot. Inzamam stood puzzled and stared back at the bowler even when he had reached his mark and was all ready to send down the next delivery. This kind of unnecessary aggression by the Aussies is a part of their cricketing culture and highly avoidable, especially by a newcomer.

At tea, Pakistan was 190/3 in 62 overs and comfortably placed to take control of the game. The patient innings by Inzy and Yousuf was the perfect prescription on a wicket like this. They never failed to punish the bad balls and found the fence consistently.

Inzamam played his part as the senior player well, letting Youhana face the bowling and allowing him at one stage to overhaul his personal score. Youhana square drove Blewett to get to his fifty and the team's 200.

Inzamam finally succumbed to some accurate bowling from McGrath, with the new ball and was caught plumb in front. Inzamam fell short of a well deserved hundred by 12 runs. Youhana followed suit and fell short by 5 runs to get to his ton. His innings was studded with 16 boundaries. Fleming claimed his third wicket of the day when Youhana nicked one to the keeper. The batsman didn't seem too happy with the decision though the snickometer indicated that he had got the faintest of edges. Steve tried all his bowling options yet failed to take wickets at regular intervals. Pakistan had seized the initiative until the last hour of day's play. With Inzamam and Youhana back in the pavilion Pakistan sent out nightwatchman, Mushtaq Ahmed to play out the last overs. A ball from Fleming hit him below the belt and shook him up. He eventually edged the ball to the keeper in the last over of the day.

Pakistan scored 90 runs in the post-tea session losing three wickets. Fleming was the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets against his name. He bowled well throughout the day and kept bowling a nagging line resulting in the rich haul of wickets. Damien Fleming, an old war horse, is one of the finest exponents of swing bowling and used the new ball to good effect. The Pakistan batsmen need to spend more time at the crease tomorrow and if they can bat for an hour after lunch they would be in the driver's seat again.

Australia pushed real hard and pulled back the initiative from the Pakis. If they can bowl the Pakistan batsmen quickly in the first session itself we could be in for an absorbing second day's play.

The first day's play was a very emotional moment for one of Australia's longest serving wicket keepers, Ian Healy. He drove around the boundary line with his wife and children, waving out to the fans. Healy's contribution to the game has been invaluable and the way his services were acknowledged by the authorities was laudable. Maybe, the BCCI could take a leaf out of their books and learn to give the players their due. To let them retire from centerstage with grace and pride.

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