Pakistan 326-2 India: Younis puts Pakistan on top after discord in India camp

Younis Khan helped Pakistan to lay the foundations for a big score on the opening day of the first Test against India, hitting an unbeaten 147 as his side reached 326 for 2 at stumps. Mohammad Yousuf was on the verge of joining his partner in triple figures as he finished the day on 95.

Younis struck 19 fours off 243 balls during the day, but India will be upset that he survived a dubious call for leg before while on one. In the fifth over, Younis was struck on the pads by Irfan Pathan, and the umpire Darrell Hair gave it not out, although television replays suggested it would have struck middle and leg.

Pakistan had a shaky start, losing Salman Butt in the third over when he was run out for six trying to take a quick single when Shoaib Malik hit to square leg. He was beaten by a direct hit from Yuvraj Singh after being sent back by Malik who went on to reach 59 before offering an easy catch to Harbhajan Singh at cover off Irfan Pathan.

Having survived his early scares, Younis reached his 10th Test century in 183 balls shortly after tea. His unbroken stand with Yousuf had reached 190 by the close, a record for the third wicket against India at Lahore, beating the previous mark of 148 set by Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad in 1982. Yousuf hit 10 fours and one six in his unbeaten 95 before bad light stopped play.

The India coach Greg Chappell has denied any rift in the team after television images showed Saurav Ganguly engaged in an animated discussion with him and the captain Rahul Dravid before the Test.

"It was nothing, we were just discussing cricket. Why do you people have to read more into everything?" Chappell told a news conference. A team source said that the discussion had centred on who would open, with both the former captain Ganguly and Dravid keen to take one of the slots.

* Australia won the first match of the VB Series by 116 runs after restricting Sri Lanka to 202 for 7 at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne. Australia posted 318 for 5 before their bowlers made early headway to break up the visitors' response.