A cracking century by Yuvraj Singh and equally brilliant half-century by Sourav Ganguly put India (277/4) in command on the opening day of the third and final Test match against Pakistan at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
Bangalore, Dec 8 : A cracking century by Yuvraj Singh and equally brilliant half-century by Sourav Ganguly put India (277/4) in command on the opening day of the third and final Test match against Pakistan at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
Yuvraj's blistering century helped team make a strong comeback. His century came off just 135 balls and contained 20 fpours and a six. Ganguly also kept the tempo up from his side as well.
Ganguly's knock was marked with some exquisite stroke-making followed-up with effective running between the wickets, a feat he has mastered in recent times.
Coming in at the fall of VVS Laxman's wicket, with India struggling at 61-4, Yuvraj (batting on 125) took the fight into the opposition camp with a series of boundaries. He was particularly severe on Mohammad Sami.
From the other end, Ganguly (batting on 87) matched Yuvraj in elegance and poise.
Ganguly, who took time to build his innings, then took over from Yuvraj and attacked the Pakistan bowling quite effectively.
He reached his fifty with his 10th boundary when he flicked Pakistan skipper Younis Khan to the fine-leg boundary.
Earlier, debutant Yasir Arafat struck thrice to leave India gasping at 65-4 off 24 overs at lunch.
Replacing Shoaib Akhtar as first-change bowler, Arafat, scalped the prize wickets of former captain Rahul Dravid (19), Wasim Jaffer (17) and Laxman (five) in his inspiring first spell in Test cricket.
India team: Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan
Pakistan team: Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan(capt), Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal(wk), Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Yasir Arafat, Danish Kaneria.
ANI