Pakistan all out on first day of Mohali test

When you're sent in to bat in bowler-friendly conditions, you definitely dont want to be all out for a score less than 300 and you want to get through the first day. Pakistan managed the former but couldnt squeeze past the close of play with wickets in hand on day one of the first test at Mohali. Ganguly will not be entirely pleased with his side's bowling performance either, with the honourable exception of Balaji, who made a successful comeback to tests with his first five wicket haul. Balaji came into the side at the expense of Harbhajan Singh.

After a scratchy beginning, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan got their radars on track during the morning session and Pakistan were in trouble against the swinging ball at 89/3. Inzamam and Taufeeq Umar stemmed the rot with some positive batting, especially by Inzamam. Youhana fell to Pathan again, continuing off from last year. After Inzamam was out, the wickets started falling again and Asim Kamal stepped in to play a dual role of ensuring that no further wickets fell as well as getting runs. He got some great support from the lower order with Razzaq, Akmal and Sami scoring valuable runs and was ultimately out 9 short of a well deserved century. He is still looking for his first one, after falling agonizingly short on debut.

India's bowlers, aside from Balaji, only impressed in patches with Kumble and Zaheer leaking quite a few runs as well. I think the day belonged to India overall because getting all out on the first day would certainly not have been in Inzamam's calculations at the start of the day. Tendulkar's fans will have to wait another day at least for his 35th test century and then later his 10,000th test run, to join four others who could also bat a bit.