Pakistan vs India 2004/05 (Part Two)

Mar 04, 2022

Pakistan vs India 2004/05 (Part Two) Image

The first Test having been drawn, India and Pakistan moved to Eden Gardens in Kolkata for the second Test match.

India won the toss and decided to bat. Although they lost Gautam Gambhir for 29, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid looked to take advantage with a  stand of 76 for the second wicket.

Sehwag departed for 81, having struck 11 fours. Dravid then combined with Sachin Tendulkar, and the pair added 122 before Tendulkar was dismissed for 52. A mid-order collapse saw both Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman fall cheaply, but Dravid consolidated with Dinesh Karthik, until both fell in the space of three overs.

Dravid was out for 110, which included a six and 15 fours, and Karthik for 28. The last-wicket pair of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble managed to add 44 more, before India were all out for 407.

After the Pakistan opening pair of Taufeeq Umar and Shahid Afridi had given their side a start, the Pakistan reply was built around the third-wicket partnership between Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. That was worth 211 when it was finally broken when Yousuf was out for 104, having struck 12 fours.

Younis and his captain Inzamam-ul-Haq added 50 before the latter fell for 30. Then India began to come back into the game, especially when Younis fell for 147 with 19 fours.

The last five wickets fell for the addition of just 32 as Pakistan were all out for 393, giving India a slender first-innings lead.

In their second innings, India lost both openers early, but Dravid continued his fine form. He shared a partnership of 98 with Tendulkar. After Tendulkar was out for 52, he combined with Ganguly and Laxman before he was joined in the middle by Karthik. 

They added 167 for the sixth wicket until Dravid departed having scored his second century – 135, with 15 fours. Shortly afterwards, Karthik was out for 93, having hit 13 fours. Yet again the tail added valuable runs, enabling India to declare on 407/9.

Pakistan were set 422, but the pitch by this time had started to deteriorate and take spin. Kumble, who had taken three wickets in the first innings, came into his own.

He helped remove all of the Pakistan dangermen – Afridi, Younis, Inzamam, and Yousuf. In the end, Pakistan were bowled out for just 226. Kumble took 7-63 to finish with match figures of 10-191, but the Player of the Match honours went to Dravid.

India won by 195 runs.