Afridi and Akmal make India bleed

It was murder at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. The executioner was Pakistani hero Shahid Khan Afridi and the sufferers were Indian bowlers. The savage assault on the hapless Indian bowlers has to be seen to be believed. They were smashed all over the park to the delight of a boisterous crowd.

With Eid-ul-Azha just passed, Afridi must not have completed his religious rites so brutally by slaughtering the sacrificial animal as he butchered the Indian bowling three days later. The manner in which Afridi has maltreated the Indian bowlers he is liable to be reported to Human Rights Commission for violating the rights of Harbhajan, Kumble, Agarkar and Pathan. Surely, he is man who can hit any ball out of the planet.

* Inzamam-ul-Haq had a rare failure yesterday and still Pakistan went past 650-mark. It was for the first time since Inzi’s Test debut (in 14 years) that Pakistan have made 600 or more runs in a Test innings without having the giant contributing a significant score. It was also only the fourth instance of Pakistan making above 500 during the same period with Inzamam not getting a major score. The previous three occurrences are: Pak 505 v Eng, Old Trafford 1992 - Inzamam 26; Pak 537 v Aus, Rawalpindi 1994- Inzamam 0; Pak 521 v Eng, The Oval 1996- Inzamam 35. There have been 10 other 500-plus scores by Pakistan since Inzi’s debut and the lowest contribution he made in those totals was 97 against Australia at Peshawar in 1998.

* The third-wicket partnership of 319 runs between Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf is the eighth highest for any wicket for Pakistan and the best at Lahore. It is also the third-highest partnership for the third wicket against India by any side. The 451-run stand between Javed Miandad and Mudassar Nazar at Hyderabad still remains the best.

* Younis Khan became the first batsman in Test annals to be run-out on 199. He however provided the sixth instance of a player being dismissed in nervous 199s with Andy Flower the only one who left-stranded at the same score. Younis also became the third Pakistani after Mudassar Nazar and Muhammad Wasim to be dismissed in 190s.

* Younis also became the first Pakistani to share a century and a triple century partnership in the same innings of a Test match. He first shared 124-run stand with Shoaib Malik for the second wicket before putting on 319 for the third wicket with Yousuf. There have been 17 other occurrences of a century and a triple-century stand by one player in the same Test innings.

* Afridi crushed Harbhajan to pulp. He accumulated 27 runs from off-spinner’s over which included a four sixes, a double and a single. Only Brian Lara has now scored more runs in an over Test cricket (28 off Robin Peterson at Johannesburg in 2003-04). Afridi though became the first batsman on the planet to smash four sixes off the first four balls of an over in Test cricket. He is also only the second man after India’s Kapil Dev to score 24 runs from sixes alone in an over. Kapil hit the last four balls of EE Hemmings over for sixes at Lord’s in 1990.

* Afridi's hundred off 78 balls was the joint ninth-fastest in the annals of Test cricket and the second fastest by a Pakistani after Majid Khan’s 74 ball ton against New Zealand at Karachi in 1976-77. Afridi had scored a century off the same number of balls against West Indies at Bridgetown last year.

* Kamran Akmal created a new world record for the fastest century by a wicketkeeper in Test cricket. His magnificent ton came off 81 balls which bettered Adam Gilchrist’s record of two separate hundreds off 84 balls each, against India at Mumbai (2000-01) and Zimbabwe at Perth (2003-04) respectively. Curiously enough, this was also the 12th fastest by any batsman in the longer version of the game.

* Shahid Afridi has now smashed 41 sixes in his 21-match Test career. He is now only the fifth Pakistani batsman to hit 40 or more Test sixes after Wasim Akram (57), Imran Khan (55), Javed Miandad (48) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (46).

* The total of 679 for 7 is now the second highest by any side on Pakistan soil after Pakistan’s 699-5 dec against India at Lahore in 1989-90. Since then, in 16 years upto to this day, no side has plundered such a huge total against India (except Sri Lanka’s mammoth 952-6 at Colombo in 1997-98) then Pakistan did yesterday.Click to see the tables