Its Only Cricket

Filed under Third test - Bangalore

It took 27 years to India to beat Pakistan in a test series, at home. Strange it might seem, but after 1980 series - Pakistan lost this 2007 3 test match Indian Oil series 1-0. See Ind v Pak all test summary!

Bengaluru, for this 3rd test match, had a tough pitch for batsman to face & keepers to gather the ball. sadly, not many bowlers bowled wicket-to-wicket deliveries to enforce a result in the end. Pakistan made good start to the of chase 374 inside 48 overs but then, inside 16 balls, Anil Kumble took 5 wickets.. reducing Pakistan to 7 for 167, with 2 crucial wickets coming from Yuvraj Singh.

Note : ICC rule says both team captains have to agree before the start of a test series about whether artificial lights would be used or not! for this India vs Pakistan 2007 test series - decision was no, and thus - flood lights were not turned on when India required just 3 more wickets to win the match!

Probably India declared their 2nd innings too late, but then - cloud cover over Bengaluru didn't allow them the last 10 mandetory overs & Pakistan managed a draw. Sourav Ganguly was given the match of the match and also the player of the series!

India vs Pakistan : 3rd test Bangalore 8-12 Dec, 2007 series
India 1st Inn : 626 allout (150.2 overs)	Pakistan 1st Inn :537 all out (168.1 ovs)
Ganguly 239, Yuvra 169, Pathan 102	Hameed 19, Butt 68, Younus 80
India 2nd Inn : 284 for 6 declared	Yousuf 24, Misbah 133*, Akmal 65
Jaffer 18, Gambhir 3, Dravid 42	Pakistan 2nd Inn : 162 for 7, 36 overs
Ganguly 91, Laxman 14, Karthik 52	Kumble 14-2-60-5, Yuvraj 3-0-9-2
Test match Drawn, India won the series 1-0

Day 5 notes
**Dinesh Karthik (who broke the record for most byes on Day 4) made a career saving half century on the last day. One time, his shot hit the helmet of short leg fielder - Faisal Iqbal, and as per ICC rules - Dinesh wasn't out. Had the ball bounced off any body part of Iqbal, Dinesh would've been out, but not off the helmet.
**This was Anil Kumble's first test series as Captain, and he won it for India 1-0. ** Neosports, the broadcasters of this cricket series, showed their whole crew members (70) and all the 33 cameras placed at different parts of the Chinnaswamy stadium.. They say they carry almost 15 tons of equipment for telecast of every match.
** Sourav Ganguly, after his double century in the first innings, he made 91 in the 2nd essay.. had he scored a century - Ganguly would have been just the 7th batsman in history of cricket to score a double & single century in the same test match!

Preview : story of 2005 = story of 2007

Day 1 : UV & Ganguly make Pak look silly

Day 2 : Pak start well after India delay declaration

Day 3 ~ India : Pak : Draw = 30 : 5 : 65.

Ishant inswingers install hope into India

Pak lose test series in India after 27 years