KARACHI (PTI): Twenty four old Sanjay Manjrekar Scored a superb unbeaten century to help India draw the First Test’ against Pakistan at the National Stadium here on November 21.

This was Manjrekar’s second test hundred (113) which steered India clear of peril.

India finished the day with 303 for three in their second knock with six mandatory overs to go after being set a tall order of 453 runs for a win by Imran Khan at tea on Sunday, Nov 20,

With the first match of the four Test Series ending in a draw, Pakistan would be under pressure to do well on home soil but, the draw is certainly going to uplift India from their underdog status slapped on them by critics on both sides of the border before the start of the tour.

Manjrekar also landed himself in the record books with a second wicket partnership of 135 runs with opener Navjot Sidhu (85) the highest ever for the wicket by an Indian pair against Pakistan.

The previous record was 125 by Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amamath, set up in the fourth Test at Hyderabad (Sind) in the 198283 series.

Shastri played the perfect foil to Manjrekar after being promoted in the batting order above Sachin Tendulkar, He was never in a hurry as he scored his 22 with two fours during a stay of 90 minutes. He had scored 45 in the first innings.

While everybody considered Manjrekar as the man of the match, the organizers thought otherwise when they conferred the honor on Kapil Dev, who took three wickets in the Pakistani second innings in his 100th Test Match to finish with 354 wickets, one short of Dennis Lillee’s 355.

Imran Khan said after the match that dropped catches in the Indian second knock and Wagar Yunus’ shoulder injury came in the way of his team’s victory.

He, However, said that Manjrekar, Sidhu and Shastri batted brilliantly to fetch the draw for India,

Imran Khan described Manjrekar’s knock as a rare one,

Indian Captain, K. Srikanth, also was all praise for Manjrekar’s superb innings and said “at tea, we were considering if we should go for a win, but, later, we decided against it as we did not want to lose any more wickets”.

Pakistan first innings 409

India Started their first innings on a disastrous note, losing three wickets for 40 runs at tea on the second day on Nov. 16.

India first innings 262 avoids follow on

Replying to Pakistans 409, India were all out for 262 nine minutes before lunch in their first innings and avoided following on ‘but conceded to theirrivals a lead of 147 runs.

Playing in his 100th Test Match, Kapil Dev stood as the last bastion of defense with Shastri playing the second fiddle. The pair posted India’s 100 in 27.5 overs after the former sent across a message with his dexterous batting that he meant business however well the Pakistani bowlers bowled.

Kiran More, who made a career best unbeaten 58 to be the highest scorer, shared 2 57run eight wicket stand with Ravi Shas tri (45) to somewhat stabilize the innings after Kapil Dev’s Breezy 55 left other Indians wondering what went wrong in the early part of the innings.

Pakistan second innings 305

In Pakistan second innings Indian bowlers made amends for their previous blemishes to put a brake on the insatiable gluttony of Pakistani Batsmen on the third day.

Getting into the act from the first gong, Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar struck ine and length in no time to restrict Pakis tan to 106 for three when the stumps were ‘drawn with Shoaib Mohammad on 46 and Salim Yousuf on 3 remaining at the crease.

Openers Aamir Malik and Ramez Raja took more than three overs to put a run on the scoreboard in Pakistan’s second knock ‘as the opening attack was more than accurate,

Raja’s form in this match belied his class.

The Second Test starts at Faisalabad on November 23.

Pakistan first innings: ‘Amir Malik C Azharuddin B. KapilO Amir Malik C Shastri B, Prabhakar44 Shoaib Mohammed C. Azharuddin B Kapil67 Javed Miandad C Azharuddin B Kapil78 Salim Malik C Azharuddin B Ankola36 Imran Khan not outl09 Shahed Saeed C More B Kapill2 Salim Yousuf C More B Prabhakar36 Wasin Akram C Azharuddin B Prabhakar Abdul Qadir C More B Prabhakard Waggar Yunis C More B Prabhakar Extras (B4,LB9, NB 7W 3)23 Towl409 Bowling: Kapil Dev 24 $694, Manoj Prabhakar 34.561045, Salil Ankola 191931, Ravi Shastri 101 370, Arshad Ayub 273810, K Srink kanth 1020, Sachin Tendulkar 10100.

India first innings K Srikkanth IBW Akram4 NSiddhu B Akram0 S Manjrekar C Yousuf B ‘Yunus3 M Azharuddin LBW Imran khan 35 M Prabhakar B Yunus9 S Tendulkar B Yunus15 R Shastri C Imran B QadirdS Kapil Dev C Miandad B Yunus55 K More not outs8 A Ayub LBW Akraml S Ankola B Akramé6 Extras (BS, LB10, NBI1, W5S) 31 Toual262,

Fall of Wickets: 11, 213, 313, 441, 573, 6157, 7163, 8220, 9241.

Bowling Analysis: Wasim Akram 262 4834, Wagar Yunus 191804, Imran han 154441, Shahid Saced 2070, Abdul Qadir 101331.

Article extracted from this publication >>  November 24, 1989