Cricket: Saeed holds Pakistan together

Pakistan 185 & 316 India 223 & 4

THE PAKISTAN OPENER Saeed Anwar carried his bat for an unbeaten 188 after the Indian seamer, Javagal Srinath, had grabbed eight wickets to leave the first Test of the Asian Championship wide open.

Saeed's eighth Test century helped the tourists to 316 in their second innings, to set India 279 to win at Eden Gardens.

Pakistan were set for a bigger score when a 115-run stand for the fourth wicket between Saeed and Yousuf Youhanna (56) lifted them to 262 for 3 shortly after tea. But Srinath hit back with the second new ball. Pakistan lost their last seven wickets for just 54 runs in a dramatic final session before 85,000 enthralled home fans.

Srinath, who claimed six of those wickets, began the rout by removing Yousuf and Shahid Afridi off successive balls in his second over with the new ball. The seamer also dismissed Azhar Mehmood and Wasim Akram. Srinath, who took 5 for 46 in the first innings, claimed 8 for 68 in the second.

But there was little the Indians could do to remove Saeed. The 30-year- old surpassed his previous best of 176 against England three years ago but was left stranded as wickets tumbled at the other end.

The Indian opener Sadagopan Ramesh was handed a one-match suspended sentence by match referee Cammie Smith for showing dissent after being given out on Wednesday.

Third day; Pakistan won toss

PAKISTAN - First Innings 185 (Moin Khan 70; J Srinath 5-46).

INDIA - First Innings 223 (S Ramesh 79; Azhar Mahmood 4-71).

PAKISTAN - Second Innings

(Overnight: 26-1)

Saeed Anwar not out 188

Wajahatullah Wasti c Mongia b Srinath 9

Saqlain Mushtaq c Mongia b Singh 21

Ijaz Ahmed c Mongia b Srinath 11

Yousuf Youhanna c Dravid b Srinath 56

Shahid Afridi c Laxman b Srinath 0

Salim Malik lbw Srinath 9

Moin Khan c Mongia b Prasad 8

Azhar Mahmood lbw Srinath 0

*Wasim Akram c Mongia b Srinath 1

Shoaib Akhtar b Srinath 1

Extras (nb4 lb3 w5) 12

Total (99 overs) 316

Fall: 1-26, 2-94, 3-147, 4-262, 5-262, 6-284, 7-301, 8-302, 9-304.

Bowling: Srinath 27-6-86-8 (nb-4, w-5); Venkatesh Prasad 24-5-61-1; Kumble 27-4-91-0; Singh 16-1-56-1; Laxman 2-0-4-0; Ramesh 1-0-5-0; Tendulkar 2-0-10-0.

INDIA - Second Innings

S Ramesh not out 4

V V S Laxman not out 0

Total (0.5 overs) 4

Bowling (to date): Shoaib Akhtar 0.5-0-4-0.

To bat: A Kumble, R S Dravid, S R Tendulkar, *M Azharuddin, S C Ganguly, N R Mongia, J Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, H Singh.

Umpires: S A Bucknor and D L Orchard.