Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd Test, Multan

[Mr Hutt]

151/0 WI

Gayle 87
Ganga 59

well... Chris Gayle has just clobbered the Pakistan attack to every part deemed necessary by him.. god this is gonna be a long match

[gangstacocacola]

Well chris gayle didnt look that convincing untillthe latter half of his innings. two inside edges went for four after narrowly missing the stumps. luck did go west indies way today, as it went our way in lahore. pakistan must be ruing putting in razzaq instead of saimullah. the 3rd specialist seamer would have seriously helped us, and again razzaq hardly did anything with the bat. just stayed in long enough to make a partnership with malik who made 40 of the runs. interesting to see how this match will turn out. pakistan need early break thorughs in the morning and west indies need to just carry on as they are now.

[Hache]

Although, I couldn’t watched a ball live, score sheet suggests a day belonged comprehensively to West Indies. Latest pace sensation Jerome continued to uplift his output, whilst Gayle sends a timely reminder telling why he was the MOS in preceding tournament. From Pakistan’s perspective it was a frustrating day! They were unable to build considerably on yesterday’s brilliance and lately were exasperated by Windies opening duo. Personally, Razzaq’s sluggish & strange sort of inning surprised me big time, probably the pressure of not delivering in Lahore Test estranged his approach noticeably.



Inzzy should remember that Tests are won by competing consistently in entire 15 sessions. Therefore, not much is lost yet. Gul & Nazir possesses the ability to replicate what Jerome and Collymore did earlier today. Therefore, probability of Pakistan bowling Windies out around their first inning score is still very much possible, and any target in excess of 250 would be a daunting task for Lara’s men because track is already offering big turn, albeit, on a slow side, but on day 4 or 5, with cracks from bowler’s foot marks opening up, Kaneria has all the ability to run through the Windies batting line-up

[Mr Hutt]

WI 302/4 courtesy Brian Charles Lara.... after danish had taken both gayle and gangas wicket he came in and has played an amazing innings 93 off 68 balls.. in the last over danish bowled before the new ball was taken lara hit him for 26 runs. Crazy.. indeed, after the new ball has been taken pakistan have taken mortons and now chanderpauls wicket, thus they are fighting back!!

[Django]

It must have been a real treat for those who watched (on TV or otherwise) BC Lara on song.

[Rachael]

What's astonishing, reading the scorecard, is how watchful he was being through most of that innings: Umar Gul bowled a maiden at him to start with... and although he hit Kaneria into the sight screen early on, he was careful on the few good balls from Razzaq (who dropped short and got the treatment on too many occasions, and overpitched occasionally, but who managed 14 dot balls out of 22).

The carnage started after three dot balls from Kaneria:

short-leg in place
75.1	Danish Kaneria to Lara, no run, googly outside leg stump, Lara pulls but gets on the pads 
75.2	Danish Kaneria to Lara, no run, googly outside leg stump, padded away 
75.3	Danish Kaneria to Lara, no run, googly on the leg stump, defended on the front-foot to gully 
75.4	Danish Kaneria to Lara, FOUR, flighted ball around the off stump, googly, Lara steps out and lofts it away over extra-covers, amazing shot to come inside the line and loft it over cover 
75.5	Danish Kaneria to Lara, FOUR, one more boundary! flat one just outside off stump, Lara charges down the track and tries to loft over cover yet again but doesnt time it well, ends up slicing but got enough bat to reach the fence, Nazir slides but in vain 
75.6	Danish Kaneria to Lara, FOUR, Hat-trick of boundaries! bit flat in trajectory around the leg stump, Lara picks the length and sweeps on top of it, excellent placement wide of the short-fine leg fielder 
Lara looking really dangerous and on command making Kaneria look ordinary

After that Lara calmed and took two singles off the first 4 balls of Kaneria's next over... and then went watchful again having lost Ganga: he took one run off the last ball of the over from Razzaq.

Overpitching one and then dropping short then saw Kaneria go for 10 in 2 balls.. and after two Razzaq balls fell short and got the treatment and one with a bit of width got the treatment... there was a momentary lull with Morton taking more of the strike.... before the 26 off one over.

With that completed, Kaneria out of the attack and both Morton and Chanderpaul falling... Lara's seemingly back to playing watchfully and on merit: his only boundaries since the new ball was taken have been off poor balls.

So... 92 off 63 balls... but 23 off 34 since then, showing the bowlers some respect when they deserve it!

[Milo]

A counter attack of sheer genius, showing once again, that when firing on all cylinders noone can bowl to Lara and noone can match his batting. Looks like he's settled in for a big one now realising that West Indies really wouldn't want to bat again in this game.

[Mr Hutt]

WI 424/4 at tea on the third day

Lara is unstoppable 154-153 balls

Bravo is with him at the moment 56 - 107 balls

lead pakistan by 67 runs with 6 wickets in hand...draw anyone?

He basically batted Pakistan out of a winning position.. pure magic..

[Ninjaman]

He now has 19 scores of 150 or more.

The most by any batsman ever.

[Milo]

He's also passed Viv's WI record for Tes match sixes today. Gilchrist has 93, Lara's only five behind him now.

Has there ever been a better player of spin than this guy?