Ishant Sharma's five-wicket haul reminded everyone that a tribe called bowlers still exists. The Delhi paceman's effort came a tad late as batsmen from either side continued their dominant ways, ensuring that the final Test would produce -- barring a mammoth-sized miracle -- only a drab stalemate.
Playing only his second Test, Ishant produced a fiery third spell of the day that read 6.1-2-9-4 to bring the curtain down on Pakistan’s innings at 537, helping India gain a first-innings lead of 89 runs. The home side were 131 for two at close on the fourth day here on Tuesday for an overall lead of 220 runs.
Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid held the Indian innings together with a century alliance for the third wicket, the former in sublime touch en route to an unbeaten fifty.
Ishant blew away the tail-enders to prevent Pakistan from getting closer to the Indian total. But before the lanky pace bowler came up with his wonderful spell, it was the familiar scene of bat dominating the ball with all its might. Misbah-ul-Haq was the lead cast in that run glut, hammering his second successive hundred in the series.
No hurry
Misbah and Kamran Akmal resumed their association from where they had finished the previous day. They did not show any hurry to scale down the Indian total, and went about their task in a systematic method, giving little opportunity to the opposition bowlers.
The first session of the fourth morning was perceived to be the crucial one for both sides. Pakistan had to survive the period without much damage, and India needed to take the remaining five wickets.
But it was the visitors who succeeded as they reached 470 for six at lunch, Misbah just a run away from his second Test ton. India's only success came when they managed to dislodge Akmal, but not before he scored a fifty and shared a 144-run sixth-wicket alliance with Misbah.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh provided the breakthrough when he beat Akmal for turn and stumper Dinesh Kaarthick whipped the bails off in a flash as India breathed easy. But their relief did not last long as Misbah found another able ally in debutant Yasir Arafat.
Misbah has been an enigma of sort for the Indian bowlers, who have never managed to gain the upper hand against the 33-year-old. Tuesday was no exception as Misbah motored away to a composed hundred just after lunch when he glanced Harbhajan to the fine-leg fence.
But getting past the personal landmark did not spoil Misbah's concentration or desire to carry his team closer to the Indian total. He played some powerful shots to reveal his intentions of stepping on the gas.
Best partner
Arafat was probably the best partner Misbah could have hoped for at that stage as the former sensed the occasion and played his role to perfection. Arafat did not do anything remotely extravagant as he supported his senior partner, but his innings was not just one-dimensional. Whenever the opportunity came his way, he did not hesitate to cash in, reducing the pressure on Misbah.
A five-wicket haul and fifty would have been nice on debut, but he could not achieve the latter as Ishant cleaned up him. A moment of indecisiveness caught him in no-man's land as the ball sneaked in through the gap between his bat and pad to rattle the timber.  His dismissal opened a door for the Indian bowlers, and Ishant exploited the chance to complete his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests.
India too had to survive some anxious moments at the start of their second innings as Shoaib Akhtar dished out a scorching first spell. There were fitness concerns surrounding Akhtar as he had picked up a back pain that forced him to bowl only 10 overs in the first innings.  The paceman did not show any signs of that injury, cranking up pace and generating bounce to trouble the batsmen. Akhtar drew first blood when he breached Gautam Gambhir’s defences. Arafat soon won a leg before decision against the in-form Wasim Jaffer as India slipped to 26 for two.
But Ganguly and Dravid snuffed out any hopes Pakistan might have cherished of further breakthroughs.


SCORE BOARD

INDIA (I Innings): 626
PAKISTAN (I Innings, O/n: 369/5):
Butt c Kaarthick b Ganguly 68
(206m, 149b, 13x4)
Hameed lbw Kumble 19
(79m, 48b, 4x4)
Younis b Harbhajan 80
(220m, 156b, 12x4)
Yousuf c Yuvraj b Pathan 24
(103m, 76b, 3x4)
Misbah (not out) 133
(407m, 322b, 17x4)
Faisal c Gambhir b Ishant 22
(90m, 64b, 1x4)
Akmal st Kaarthick b Harbhajan 65
(174m, 114b, 12x4)
Arafat b Ishant 44
(97m, 70b, 7x4)
Sami b Ishant 1
(10m, 11b)
Akhtar c Gambhir b Ishant 1
(9m, 5b)
Kaneria c&b Ishant 4
(9m, 5b, 1x4)
Extras (B-35, LB-26, NB-15) 76
Total (all out, 168.1 overs) 537
Fall of wickets: 1-59 (Hameed), 2-149 (Butt), 3-221 (Younis), 4-227 (Yousuf), 5-228 (Iqbal), 6-432 (Akmal), 7-525 (Arafat), 8-527 (Sami), 9-529 (Akhtar).  Bowling: Pathan 37-14-80-1, Ishant 33.1-10-118-5 (nb-13), Kumble 44-12-116-1, Ganguly 10-2-20-1 (nb-1), Harbhajan 38-6-131-2, Yuvraj 6-2-11-0 (nb-1).
INDIA (II Innings):
Jaffer lbw Arafat 18
(67m, 41b, 4x4)
Gambhir b Akhtar 3
(36m, 16b)
Dravid (batting) 35
(141m, 76b, 5x4)
Ganguly (batting) 63
(111m, 89b, 9x4, 1x6)
Extras (LB-6, NB-6) 12
Total (for 2 wkts, 37 overs) 131
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Gambhir), 2-26 (Jaffer).  Bowling: Akhtar 9-2-21-1, Sami 11-1-36-0 (nb-4), Arafat 9-2-38-1 (nb-2), Kaneria 8-0-30-0.