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Draw looms after Younis triple-century

Pakistan 574 for 5 (Younis 306*, Faisal 57) trail Sri Lanka 644 by 70 runs

	Younis Khan hit his stride after working out the pitch and what he needed to do © AFP

Younis Khan took full advantage of a dead pitch at the National Stadium, scoring his maiden triple-century - the third by a Pakistan batsman - to push his side to safety and the match towards a draw. After four bat-dominated days, the only interest now left in the contest is whether the new Pakistan captain can break Brian Lara’s Test record of 400.

It was in line with Younis’ character that he brought up the landmark with a reverse-sweep. The cap was off, sajda was performed and a million-dollar smile lit up his sunny face. Fifty-two years earlier, Hanif Mohammad hit Pakistan’s highest Test score, a mammoth 337 against West Indies that took three days in making. The story goes that a Bajan boy, watching it from a palm tree, fell down and upon recovering consciousness in the hospital, wondered: Is Hanif still batting? He still was. Younis might well have elicited a similar reaction today. He batted on for 545 balls, and is not yet finished.

“I have never seen a pitch here where even on the fourth day not a single ball has done anything to trouble the batsmen,” Waqar Younis said on air. Younis took full toll in the middle. He had worked out the pitch, the match situation and what he needed to do. Against Muttiah Muralitharan he defended a lot and nudged offbreaks to the on side before suddenly unfurling a slog-sweep. Occasionally, he charged down the track to lift over the infield. And as ever a Younis knock is incomplete without those reverse-sweeps. Against Ajantha Mendis, he rarely got his pad in way and nudged and dabbed his way without any fuss. It worked like a treat. When the mood seized him, he went for the big shot down the ground.

The game lapsed into bit of a farce in the last session. Mahela Jayawardene gave Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara and himself some overs. It got weirder when Jayawardene picked up the wicket of Faisal Iqbal. Younis helped himself to easy boundaries in that phase and moved from 243 to his triple-hundred.

Sri Lanka, though, persevered gamely till the tea break. Jayawardene used Chaminda Vaas and Mendis in an 18-over spell in the morning and both bowlers kept it tight, giving away only 37 runs. With the wicketkeeper standing up to the stumps and a lone wide slip in place, Vaas kept varying his pace and bowled quite a few offcutters. The batsmen remained cautious but Vaas succeeded in creating a couple of chances with his persistence. On one occasion, Younis edged an attempted cover drive but it flew between keeper and slip. The second time Vaas slipped one just down leg, beating Misbah’s flick but Prasanna Jayawardene could not collect cleanly to complete the stumping.

Mendis toiled hard, mixing his deliveries well, using the offbreak as his stock ball and varying the pace. The batsmen generally played him with caution but did strike a few big hits. Younis reprised yesterday’s shot - a smooth clean swing to the straight boundary - and Misbah hit the first six of the match when he cleared long-on.

In the second session, Jayawardene used the combination of Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando, who had removed Misbah with an in-cutter just before lunch. Muralitharan could not create any pace off the track and it was left to Fernando to try posing a few problems to the batsmen. He bowled his heart out in what was his best spell of the match. He got the ball to reverse and was accurate throughout. He had a very close shout for lbw against Faisal with a ball that curved in but the umpire wasn’t convinced. He then rapped Younis with a similar delivery but this one was missing leg stump. Mendis returned to trouble Faisal with his carrom balls but the batsmen survived to score some easy runs against the lesser bowlers.

The batsmen were intent on playing out time and managed to do just that. It might have made the cricket boring but the match situation left them with no other option. However, the bigger question still remains: When you are playing Test cricket at home after 16 months, and with Test-match attendance falling rapidly, was this dead pitch the best you could come up with? The authorities need to do a sincere post-mortem.

Younis ton drives Pakistan

Pakistan 296 for 3 (Younis 149*, Malik 56) trail Sri Lanka 644 for 7 dec by 348 runs

	Younis Khan led by example and Pakistan batted on © AFP

Pakistan’s new captain Younis Khan hit a fine century and combined well with his predecessor Shoaib Malik to thwart a stiff challenge from the Sri Lankan spinners. On a pitch that got increasingly slower, Sri Lanka fought hard but Younis stood firm to lead Pakistan some way towards avoiding the follow-on.

Younis’ innings said a lot about his character and batsmanship. You could describe it as ‘typical’ but that would be too flippant. His captaincy had been castigated for his first-day field settings, which allowed Sri Lanka to run away to a mammoth total. Today, Younis replied with his bat.

He defended a lot but didn’t poke around. He slog-swept and reverse-swept but never looked desperate or too cheeky, as he often does in one-day cricket. He had occasional problems with Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis but didn’t get bogged down. The loose balls were punished and Younis created run-scoring opportunities regularly with planned, calculated shots.

As ever, he was ready for a challenge. When Muttiah Muralitharan plugged the backward short-leg region to prevent him from flicking, Younis unfurled the reverse-sweep. When Ajantha Mendis flummoxed him at times with his variations, Youni never let the bowler gain the ascendancy. In fact, it was against Mendis that he produced the shot of his stay - clearing his front leg, Younis allowed himself a free swing of the bat and the ball rocketed past the surprised bowler. When Dilhara Fernando pinned him with reverse swing when he was in the nineties, Younis remained patient in getting to the landmark. When Chaminda Vaas bent the new ball back in, Younis looked for singles to square leg. In a nutshell, it was a typical innings. We couldn’t escape that word, could we?

Younis’ effort came after Sri Lanka had tightened the noose in the first session with some disciplined and crafty bowling. Muralitharan twirled his offbreaks and doosras at different speeds, creating angles by going around the stumps and suffocating the batsmen. Mendis cut it both ways and slipped in quite a few off-breaks and googlies and nearly accounted for Younis with a close lbw shout. He also should have got Malik on 15 but Prasanna Jayawardene, who was otherwise really good, could not hold on to a tough chance behind the stumps. Younis, however, looked quite confident even in the morning. There were three elegant cover-drives off Vaas but the shot of the morning was a whiplash square-drive against Fernando.

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Pakistan coach fumes at unhelpful pitch

	Umar Gul bent his back, but did not meet with much success in Sri Lanka’s first innings in Karachi © AFP

A docile pitch at the National Stadium in Karachi helped turn Pakistan’s first two days of Test cricket in 14 months into an ordeal. It hardly offered any assistance to their pace attack, and Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said that the track, on which Sri Lanka amassed 644 for 7 declared, was not what the home team had expected.

“I am not very happy with the state of the wicket,” Alam said even while admitting the team had performed poorly on the opening day. “I will be very honest with you that we [Pakistan] were not expecting such a wicket. We needed a wicket which had grass and some bounce because we rely on our fast bowlers. The curator was told that we needed such a wicket but unfortunately it was not made.”

Alam declined to comment on whether the curator, former Test player Agha Zahid, should be sacked, but said the use of the centre square for domestic games would have hampered preparations. “I’m sure some discussion will be held on this and what should be done for the future. Wherever you go in the world they don’t touch the centre wicket - it’s especially reserved for Test matches. They play on the side wickets, but here the problem is that the sponsor wants to play on the centre wicket because they want to televise the [domestic] matches.”

Pakistan leaked 406 runs on the first day, and Alam admitted the team had erred by not plugging the third-man region, an area where Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera scored easy runs. “After every day’s play we discuss the performance and yesterday we analysed that we should not have given them free runs,” he said. “We positioned a third man from the start of the second day and also a sweeper to make sure that they do not score quickly.” Alam said the matter had been discussed with captain Younis Khan, whose positive approach did not pay off on the opening day.

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Injury may put Flintoff in doubt for IPL

	Andrew Flintoff is currently suffering from a hip injury © AFP

There is a possibility Andrew Flintoff may not play for the Chennai Super Kings in the 2009 season of the IPL if it will endanger his chances of turning out for England during the summer. ECB chief executive David Collier said the board would be “concerned if any player was carrying an injury that may affect his participation in the Ashes series”.

“There are medical clauses. The IPL are very responsible in that area and we have very, very strong relationships with Chennai,” Collier said. “Andrew’s own team will also be looking at the injury prognosis. We would need to review it, obviously this has only just happened. But there are injury provisions in both sides of the contracts.”

Flintoff, who was bought for a record $1.55 million by the Chennai Super Kings at the IPL auction, is currently suffering from a hip injury and is set to miss England’s fourth Test against West Indies beginning in Barbados on February 26. His progress is being monitored in the hope that he will be fit for the final Test in Trinidad, which starts on March 6, and the five ODIs that follow.

England’s tour of West Indies ends on April 3 and Flintoff will be available to play in the IPL, which begins on April 10, for three weeks before the home series against West Indies from May 6. That series is followed by the World Twenty20 in England and the Ashes.

All is not rosy in the IPL as the effects of the global economic downturn begin to make their presence felt

	TV-rights money is the core element of the IPL’s finances, but the economic downturn has not been good news for the rights holders © AFP

The deepening global recession seems to have finally caught up with the IPL. With just six weeks to go for the league’s second season, franchises are scrambling to sign up sponsors and question marks have been raised - though IPL commissioner Lalit Modi emphatically denied them on Friday - within the industry about some of the league’s long-term sponsorship deals.

Consider this: Rajasthan Royals, the IPL champions, are yet to finalise a team sponsor this year after their deal with insurance firm Bajaj Allianz broke down; HDIL, a housing company, has pulled out of an agreement with Kolkata Knight Riders; and Deccan Chargers, who finished bottom of the table last season, have lost their team sponsor, the Jaypee group.

A basic costs-and-expenses sheet for the last IPL season by an independent industry analyst estimated most franchises were hit by a shortfall of around Rs 20 crore (US$4 million) or more. “We have not yet reached the potential we thought was there,” an official from a leading franchise told Cricinfo when asked about the coming season.

“The purse strings are definitely tight. If the market situation was at least 20% better than last time, things would have been different. Now, though, the sponsors are sticking to their guns on pricing and are holding out till the very end. In normal circumstances most of the deals for the second season would have been struck by now. But we are still talking. We hope things will look up once the IPL nears and the hype starts.”

Recent developments have suggested that the league itself is not immune to market turbulence. IPL officials say they are safe as long-term contracts are in place with sponsors. Besides, the league gets 20% of the media rights - sold for 10 years to the Sony-WSG combine for $ 1.02 billion - on an annual basis and 40% from the central sponsorship pool. That, though, is where the problem could lie. Some of the bad news is fact, some buzz in the marketplace, but none of it inspires confidence.

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Captains the focus in welcome Test

Match facts

Saturday February 21 - Wednesday February 25
Start time 10.00am (05:00GMT)

Big Picture

	Among the bowlers in the Pakistan squad, Danish Kaneria has been the most successful bowler in Tests against Sri Lanka© AFP

It might just be a two-Test series but it will be of significant importance for both teams. Pakistan, playing their first Test in over 14 months, have experienced a serious dearth of cricket in the country owing to security reasons, and will be led by a man given his third shot at the captaincy. Sri Lanka will be captained for the last time by their most successful leader ever and will try to give him a befitting farewell.

It’s not just a simple matter of pitting skills against each other, but finding a state of mind to approach the future. The preparation showed that. Pakistan closeted themselves in an isolation camp while preparing for the series - no outsiders were allowed, the players strived to spend some quality time together and shy players were encouraged to open up; even the former captain Shoaib Malik, it’s said, mixed around with his team-mates.

By announcing his resignation early, to the surprise of many in the team, Mahela Jayawardene has allowed his team-mates to regroup for one final campaign under him. In recent times, they have wandered across continents, looking increasingly jaded on the field. The announcement by Jayawardene might help them to shirk their mental weariness and regroup with purpose. If they can do that, the task for the next captain, widely expected to be Kumar Sangakkara, would be easy.

Form guide (most recent first)

PakistanDDLDL
Sri Lanka WWWLW

Watch out for …

Tharanga Paranavitana: Sri Lanka are desperately looking for an opener who can be consistent and Paranavitana, who replaced the out-of-form Michael Vandort in the squad, is almost certain to debut. With 893 runs at 74.41 and 621 at 51.75 in the last two editions of Sri Lanka’s domestic first-class competitions, he is the one for the future.

Shoaib Malik: The ‘former captain’ is a label that either pushes people on a downward spiral or charges them to prove a point. Younis apart, Malik will be the man that Pakistan will watch eagerly. The captaincy exit could open the door for Malik the player to really assert himself. No more tough press conferences to attend, no more bickering about his ‘aloofness’, nothing else to do but play cricket. He might just thrive. He will take heart from the past. He averages 66.50 from four Tests against Sri Lanka.

Team news

Pakistan have already picked their 12. Asim Kamal, recalled out of the wilderness, Fawad Alam and Ahmed Shahzad have been cut. Younis has said he would not like to go in with makeshift openers, which means Salman Butt should be partnered by the debutant Khurram Manzoor, who has played seven ODIs. Younis has expressed faith in allrounder Yasir Arafat’s skills so Pakistan will probably decide on one of either rookie, Mohammad Talha, with 34 wickets from six first-class games, or Sohail Khan.

Pakistan: (likely) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Khurram Manzoor, 3 Younis Khan (capt), 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Faisal Iqbal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Yasir Arafat, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Danish Kaneria, 11 Mohammad Talha/Sohail Khan.

Jayawardene was pretty certain of Sri Lanka’s batting composition - Paranavitana, who scored 621 runs with three centuries at an average of 51.75 this season, should open - but said the bowling needed some more thinking. Chaminda Vaas is almost certain to come back and take up the attack, but his new-ball partner remains uncertain. Dilhara Fernando and Thilan Thushara haven’t been at their best recently, and the third option is Farveez Maharoof, who doesn’t bowl at much pace. Fernando and Thushara are quicker but Maharoof’s batting would be handy. It’s a tough call for the management.

Sri Lanka: (likely) 1 Malinda Warnapura, 2 Tharanga Paranativana, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Farveez Maharoof, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Ajantha Mendis.

Pitch & conditions

Younis said that he had instructed the curator to make a pitch which is suitable for Test cricket. “There should be some life for both batsmen and bowlers,” Younis said. Sri Lanka’s captain Jayawardene felt the pitch looked like a good batting track.

Stats & Trivia

Windies secure the great escape

West Indies 285 and 370 for 9 (Sarwan 106) drew with England 566 for 9 dec (Strauss 169, Collingwood 113) and 221 for 8 dec

	Andrew Flintoff strained every sinew, but he was thwarted by West Indies at their most indomitable © AFP

West Indies’ final pair of Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell blocked out the final 36 minutes of a magnificent Test match at the Antigua Recreation Ground, to secure the draw that maintained their 1-0 lead in the series, and revived the momentum that had been squandered in a troubled week both on and off the field. Chasing a nominal target of 503, West Indies battened down the hatches and clung on to the close on 370 for 9, with the light fading fast and 10 men piled around the bat as England’s spinner, Graeme Swann, teased and probed for an opening that simply refused to materialise.

For Edwards, it was a familiar situation, as he welcomed the ARG back onto the Test rota just as he had seen it off agaist india three years ago, but for England it was a shattering result - a draw that undoubtedly felt like a defeat, especially after the dominance they had enjoyed on the first two days. Questions will be asked about the timing of England’s second-innings declaration - did they dally too long on the fourth afternoon? - but there could be no legislating for a West Indian team performance that was the very epitome of regional pride, coming as it did on a day when the Caribbean was plunged into a Stanford-induced economic gloom.

England’s bowlers poured heart and soul into their performance, not least the unconscionably heroic Andrew Flintoff, who limped and grimaced through 12 overs in the day - five in the second session, six more in the third, and then, astoundingly, one final roll of the dice as the sun began to disappear, by which stage every one of his deliveries seemed as though it might be his final act of the tour. On a day when two men, Amjad Khan and Ravi Bopara, were called up to replace him, there seemed no question that he will be flying home for treatment as soon as the results of his scan in Barbados are revealed.

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Patron’s XI v Sri Lankans, Karachi, 2nd day

Patron’s XI 395 for 4 (Shehzad 146, Azhar 100) beat Sri Lankans 283 for 5 (Sangakkara 100, Mahela 49) by 112 runs

	Kumar Sangakkara retired after reaching his hundred © AFP

The Sri Lankans fell 112 runs short of their target in the two day warm-up match against Patron’s XI despite Kumar Sangakkara’s century. Chasing a target of 396 in their allotted quota of 90 overs, the visitors finished the second day in Karachi on 283 for 5.

The run-chase got off to a rocky start with the Sri Lankans losing openers Malinda Warnapura and Tharanga Paranavitana with only 26 runs on the board. Their two most experienced batsmen Sangakkara and captain Mahela Jayawardene put the innings back on track with a 112-run stand for the third wicket. Jayawardene was dismissed on 49 and Sangakkara retired once he got to his century, giving the others in the batting line-up an opportunity.

Thilan Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardene made 40s but Tillakaratne Dilshan failed to make a contribution, getting bowled by Mohammad Khalil for 3. “We were not particularly bothered about the result because our top batsmen got the much needed practice before the Tests,”

Pakistan recall Asim Kamal for first Test

	Ahmed Shehzad wasn’t part of the original probables but his 146 in the tour game was too hard to ignore © Cricinfo Ltd

Pakistan’s selectors picked five uncapped players in their 15-man squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Karachi, also recalling middle-order batsman Asim Kamal. Under-19 opener Ahmed Shehzad, who scored a hundred in a warm-up game against the tourists, was a surprise first-time pick, while others joining him as first-timers in the Test setup are fast bowlers Mohammad Talha and Sohail Khan, opener Khurram Manzoor and allrounder Fawad Alam.

The selectors picked Shehzad following his 146 for the PCB Patrons XI in the two-day tour match against the Sri Lankans in Karachi, again overlooking Nasir Jamshed. The opening batsman was also a part of the U-19 squad for the World Cup in Malaysia last year.

“Shehzad was not selected in the initial squad of 22 but I said last week that we can pick a player from outside the first list,” chief selector Abdul Qadir said. “So after hitting a hundred against Sri Lanka we could not ignore Shehzad.”

Kamal’s return is otherwise notable, capping the end of a three-year Test exile. Kamal played the last of his 12 Tests in 2005 against England, since when he has been the subject of contentious debate among several selection committees and captains.

He has been in steady, rather than spectacular, form this season (451 runs in eight Quaid-e-Azam trophy games) but his many backers will argue that he should never have been dropped in the first place. The man who leads the domestic run-charts, Fawad Alam (855 runs at 122.14) provides competition alongwith Faisal Iqbal for a middle-order berth.

There will be mild surprise elsewhere at the exclusion of Sohail Tanvir, essentially dropped at the expense of Yasir Arafat. The selectors believe the pair were vying for the same spot, and though both were in fine domestic form, Arafat’s impressive Test debut against India in Bangalore in 2007 - the last Test Pakistan played - ensured he got the nod.

A selection disagreement? There is tension between Qadir and Younis and it is believed that some of the finer details in the squad’s make-up were the bone of much contention between the pair. “The captain is the general of the team who has to lead the side in the field so it’s a good thing that he should select his own final playing XI,” Qadir said. But it is understood that the selection of Shehzad, enthusiastically put forth by Qadir, did not please Younis, mostly as it came from outside the 22 probables picked. But communication between the two is strained currently and one member of the selection committee spent much of the day playing mediator between the two before the squad was announced.

The emergence of Talha hasn’t helped Tanvir’s cause either; highly-regarded by men such as Wasim Akram over the last two seasons, Talha has set the domestic scene alight, with 34 wickets so far in six games.

Kamran Akmal has also been retained in the side, despite a team management report after the ODI series loss to Sri Lanka, which specifically asked for a replacement to be found for the continually under-performing Akmal. Qadir indicated the decision was Younis Khan’s, strangely admitting it hadn’t crossed his mind.

The squad was the first picked by this committee and Younis, who took over as captain of Pakistan from Shoaib Malik after the ODI loss to Sri Lanka.

Squad: Younis Khan (capt), Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam, Yasir Arafat, Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal (wk), Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha, Sohail Khan.