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Imran Khan made the most of his first appearance of the tournament for Trinidad & Tobago, claiming 4 for 25 in a nine-wicket win over ICC Americas at Queen’s Park Oval to clinch a semi-final spot for the defending champions in the Nagico Super50. ICC Americas were rolled over for 81 after electing to bat at the toss. Srimantha Wijeratne top-scored for the second match in a row, making 30, while Timroy Allen was the only other player to cross into double-figures with 22 before he was last man out in the 26th over.ICC Americas were already struggling at the end of the opening power play, having reached 24 for 3 at the 10-over mark, before a 25-run stand between Wijeratne and Alex Amsterdam briefly stymied the home side’s bowling attack. Amsterdam fell for 5 playing down the wrong line to Narsingh Deonarine to end the 17th and Khan entered the attack in the following over, needing four balls to trap Wijeratne in front to a ball that replays later showed pitched outside leg stump. However, Khan did not complain and proceeded to burrow through the rest of the middle and lower order.T & T only needed 12.5 overs to track down the target and secure their fourth bonus point in four wins. Kyle Hope smashed 40 off 27 before an ungainly attempted slog against left-arm spinner Danial Ahmed brought about his demise in the 10th over. Kjorn Ottley and Denesh Ramdin saw the hosts the rest of the way, making an unbeaten 24 and 18 respectively. Ramdin clattered three consecutive boundaries in the 13th to finish the match.Barbados came out on top of Jamaica by 73 runs in a pivotal rematch in Couva. Needing a win to have any hope of reaching the semi-final, Barbados posted 246 for 9 after being sent in. Dwayne Smith, who has had a barren run throughout the month of January, found form with 86 to kickstart Barbados at the top of the order. A vital 48 came in the middle order from Shane Dowrich to further boost Barbados before he was run out.Jamaica captain John Campbell took 3 for 57 with the ball before coming out to open the chase and scoring 42 off 39 balls until he was stumped by Dowrich off Ashley Nurse. Three overs later, Nurse claimed Jermaine Blackwood and throughout the rest of the day Jamaica struggled against the Barbados spin attack.The left-arm tandem of Sulieman Benn and Jomel Warrican shared five wickets between them as Andre McCarthy was the only batsman beyond the top three to pass 20. He made 33 before he fell to Warrican ending the 33rd over at 128 for 6. Jonathan Carter decimated the middle order with 3 for 26 as Jamaica were eventually bowled out for 173 in the 47th over.The result means that a Barbados win over Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday will put Barbados in the semis. Jamaica needs a bonus point win over ICC Americas combined with a Barbados loss to be guaranteed of claiming the final semi-final slot. Jamaica is currently four points behind Barbados so could also qualify by scoring a win, and a Barbados loss, without needing a bonus point but would have to overtake Barbados on net run rate, as their current deficit in the tiebreaker stands at +0.109.In Group B, Guyana clinched a semi-final berth with a seven-wicket win over Leeward Islands in Basseterre, a result that also knocked Leewards out of semi-final contention. Leewards made 172 after choosing to bat. Seven players reached double-figures, but only three batsmen passed 20 with a best of 35 coming from Rahkeem Cornwall in the lower order.Vishaul Singh made 44 to start the chase, but it was Shivnarine Chanderpaul who once again top-scored against Leewards, this time with an unbeaten 57. He also shared an unbroken 57-run stand for the fourth wicket alongside Raymon Reifer as victory was secured with 22 balls to spare.Combined Campuses and Colleges produced the shock result of the tournament so far, beating Windward Islands by 91 runs at Warner Park to hand each side their first win and loss respectively. However, Windwards still qualified for the semi-finals despite the loss thanks to Guyana’s win over Leewards.CCC was in major strife at 27 for 6 as Delorn Johnson scythed through the top order, eventually ending with career-best List A figures of 6 for 37. Rovman Powell and Akeem Dewar added 93 for the seventh wicket to rescue CCC as Powell eventually made 71 in a team total of 157.Remarkably, Powell managed to singlehandedly outscore Windwards, who were bowled out in reply for just 66. The batting collapsed so badly that extras wound up top-scoring in the innings with a total of 11. Chemar Holder claimed 5 for 22 as Windwards were routed in 22 overs.

ScorecardLendl Simmons’ third first-class hundred gave Trinidad and Tobago a significant advantage over Barbados on the second day of their final-round Carib Beer Series match at Guaracara Park. Backed by some top bowling and fielding T&T ended in a great position to defend their title against Carib Cup champions Jamaica; by stumps they had a 267-run lead over Barbados, who were bowled out for 184.Simmons, 23, resumed on 63 and buckled down to score 126 from 279 balls, with nine fours and a six, out of T&T’s 420. He shared in a ninth-wicket partnership of 98 in 91 minutes with Ravi Rampaul (38). Simmons, batting at No.4, was last man out to give left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn his fourth wicket.T&T then secured a 236-run lead – and four first-innings points – by dismissing Barbados for 184. Richard Kelly set the ball in motion with the wicket of opener Jason Haynes for 8 and offspinner Amit Jaggernauth and Rayad Emrit each took three wickets. Dwayne Smith (39) got a start but fell just before tea, caught behind off Dave Mohammed.Daren Ganga, T&T’s captain, decided not to enforce the follow-on and his team finished on 31 for 0 going into the third day.
ScorecardPace bowler Gavin Tonge took four wickets to put Leeward Islands in control against Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC) on the second day at Grove Park. CCC could only manage 248 in reply to Leewards’ first-innings 418 and trailed by 252 at stumps as they reached 82 for 0.Resuming on 402 for 8 Leewards were aided by Tonito Willett’s 67 but could only add 16 as legspinner Gavin Wallace finished with 6 for 108 from 32.2 overs. Simon Jackson and Omar Philips, CCC’s openers, then launched a stirring attack to get their side to lunch at 71 for 0. CCC’s 50 came up in just 5.4 overs and Jackson had 55 to his name by the break as compared to Philips’ 5. The duo added 122 before Jackson fell for a 49-ball 75; from there on wickets fell at regular intervals.The veteran Floyd Reifer (26) and Chadwick Walton (32) restored the innings with a fourth-wicket stand of 52 but CCC lost seven for 51 after they were separated. Tonge, a right-arm fast-medium bowler, claimed 4 for 66 from 11 overs, backed up by Brent Defreitas’ 2 for 29.With a 170-run lead garnered, Kieran Powell and Shane Jeffers proceeded to extend Leewards’ position with an 82-run opening stand. Powell was unbeaten on 52 after top-scoring with 85 in the first innings.
ScorecardTravis Dowlin celebrated his appointment as Guyana captain by hitting an unbeaten 121 as the hosts dominated the Windward Islands on the opening day at the Providence Stadium. Guyana finished on 312 for 3 after opting to bat on a slow track and with Dowlin was Shivnarine Chanderpaul, just 22 runs away from a 44th first-class century.Dowlin and Chanderpaul came together at 161 for 3 and put on 151. Dowlin hit 14 fours during his 208-ball effort and Chanderpaul had six fours and three sixes in his 72 from 116 balls.Dowlin, 31, also put on 106 with former West Indies Under- 19 captain Leon Johnson (46) after Guyana played out a watchful first session. Krishna Arjune was the first to go, bowled by Mervin Matthew for 18 in the first hour and Sewnarine Chattergoon went for 27 from 72 balls shortly before lunch. From there on Dowlin took charge and along with Chanderpaul, totally dominated the last session.The game was scheduled to start on Friday but due to the late arrival of the luggage of the Windward Islands team, the opening day had to be delayed by a day.

Caribbean Premier League chief executive Damien O’Donohoe has said that the league is committed to put development over profits as the key aim of the CPL’s foray into the United States for the 2016 season. The CPL announced on Wednesday that six games will be held in the USA this July and O’Donohoe says making tickets affordable to bring in new fans is a high priority.”I think the opportunity to play games is obviously a huge opportunity both for ourselves and for the ICC in terms of developing the game,” O’Donohoe said from the CPL draft in Barbados. “We’re going to be the first professional league. We’ve seen the All-Stars games go in there in November and it was great to see the turn-out even though the ticket price was very expensive.Less than 15% of the available tickets for the Cricket All-Stars matches in New York, Houston and Los Angeles originally went on sale for $50-75, while the overwhelming majority of tickets were priced at $150 or more all the way up to $325 in Los Angeles. Though the crowds were large compared to other venues around the world, the vibrant scenes were dwarfed by empty seats, especially in Los Angeles with a crowd of 20,900 showing up to the 56,000-seater Dodger Stadium.When West Indies hosted New Zealand in 2012 at the Central Broward Regional Park [CBRP] in Florida, general admission on the grass bank on the north boundary cost $20 while reserved seats under the south grandstand were priced at $30. The low prices produced an estimated crowd of 15,000 people for the opening T20I of that series. It was recognised as a sell-out crowd for the CBRP, though temporary seats could have been added to accommodate up to 5,000 more people. O’Donohoe hopes that same formula will lead to success for the CPL in the USA.”We’re going to go in a very low-end ticket price and make these games accessible to everyone because this is about developing the game, building a fan base in the US and growing the game internationally. The West Indies have hosted games there but we’re going to be the first professional T20 league. Now that’s an opportunity obviously but it’s also a risk.”Although the CPL release stated only that games would be played in the USA, the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida is the only ICC-certified ODI stadium venue in the country. Multiple sources told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday that the CBRP has been reserved for use by the CPL from July 17 to 31. Even though O’Donohoe would like to plant the seeds of CPL interest beyond Florida, having a lone ICC-certified turf pitch venue limits his options.”We haven’t confirmed exactly where we’re going to play the games just yet,” O’Donohoe said. “Obviously the lack of stadiums is always going to be a challenge. There’s only one at Lauderhill as we know but we’ve always wanted to play games in the US as part of CPL and we’ve said that from day one. So now we have the opportunity and we’ve been working very closely with Tim Anderson and Dave Richardson at the ICC in terms of just how we’re going to enter the US market but we really have one chance and we need to make sure we get it right.”With everything that we do there’s a Caribbean flavor and hopefully we can mirror what we did in the Caribbean in the US. Cricket has been on the decline a little bit here. No one makes any secret of that and I think CPL has done amazingly well to revitalize and reenergize cricket here in the Caribbean and we want to take that same approach to the US.”O’Donohoe says both the quantity and quality of player applications took a big step up for this year’s competition, an indication to him that the CPL is fast turning into a desirable destination for both players and fans. He hopes that bringing matches to the USA is another forward step in building up the profile of the league one he feels is worth mentioning in the same category as the IPL and Big Bash.”The standard of players that we’ve had apply and from 14 or 15 countries around the world, it just shows how far CPL has come,” O’Donohoe said. “I think playing the games in America is just another statement just to show how serious we are and hopefully that we’re seen now as one of the big three in terms of the T20 leagues around the world.”

Netherlands 107 (Burger 4-44) and 161 for 3 (ten Doeschate 47*) trail Namibia 337 by 69 runs
ScorecardSeventeen wickets fell on the second day of Namibia’s Intercontinental Cup match against Netherlands in Windhoek, as Namibia took complete control. After compiling 337, Namibia’s opening bowlers tore through Netherlands to dismiss them for 107, forcing them to follow-on. At stumps they had moved to 161 for 3, still trailing by 69 with two days to go.The day’s precedent was set in the first few overs. Namibia, resuming on 322 for 5, collapsed to 337 all out to lose their last five wickets in six overs. But their bowlers gained revenge, with Kola Burger and Louis Klazinga sharing seven wickets and helping to reduce Netherlands to 52 for 7. Their star batsman, Ryan ten Doeschate, made only 6, though Peter Borren (35 from 52) and Eric Szwarczynski (23) at least allowed Netherlands to pass 100 with some entertaining hitting. To further compound Netherlands’ fortunes, Pieter Seelaar was hit in the face by a bouncer from Gerrie Snyman and is not expected to play any further part in the match.At least Netherlands made a better fist of things in their second innings. Alexei Kervezee and Tom de Grooth both fell cheaply before Bas Zuiderent, their experienced No. 3, dropped anchor in a resilient 52. He shared in a third-wicket stand of 91 with ten Doeschate who remained unbeaten on 47. Only he can save Netherlands from a thumping defeat.

Delhi and Uttar Pradesh shared honours on an eventful day’s play onthe opening day of the three day Vijay Merchant Trophy (under- 16)final at the Eden Gardens on Saturday. UP did well in dismissing Delhifor 155 in 72.5 overs but they themselves lost two wickets for 42 off28 overs by stumps.Put in to bat, Delhi made a bad start losing three wickets for 42runs. However, opener Shikkhar Dhawan (68) and Abhishek Nag (21)initiated a recovery process by adding 70 runs for the fourth wicket.Both fell in quick succession and this put Delhi again on thebackfoot. Dhawan was fifth out at 114. He hit 14 fours. Avinash Yadav,who dismissed Dhawan then had the wickets of Sumit Kapoor and AbhinavBali at the same total. From 112 for three, Delhi slid sharply to 114for seven. Kuldeep Rawat (23) and Abhishek Sharma (14 not out) added24 runs for the eighth wicket before the innings came to an end.Avinash Yadav was the most successful bowler with four for 33 off 11.5overs. But Vishal Francis also caught the eye with the ratherremarkable figures of 20-11-18-2.When UP batted, they were rocked by the third ball dismissal of RaviKant Shukla who was caught by Shikhar Dhawan off Kuldeep Rawat. Theother opener Shiva Kant Shukla also did not trouble the scorers verymuch and was leg before to Sumit Kapoor for four off 46 balls. ThenTaheer Abbas, who was shaping well retired hurt at 37 for two in the25th over. He had hit five fours in his 28. At close Aris Alam (8) andRahat Ilahi (1) were at the crease.

Victoria’s emerging fast bowler Peter Siddle says he will draw extra motivation from playing against a near Test-quality New South Wales team in the Pura Cup final. The Blues have included Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Stuart MacGill, Michael Clarke, Phil Jaques and Brad Haddin, but Siddle believes the less well-known Victorians have nothing to fear.”You always want to play against the best players,” Siddle said. “These names come back and they’re the blokes playing for Australia at the minute, and obviously if you do well against these type of players the selectors take notice.”Unlike New South Wales, Victoria have a reasonably settled line-up, although they have had injury concerns with their fast bowlers. Siddle has had ongoing shoulder worries – he had a reconstruction in 2006, dislocated it earlier this year and aggravated it a couple of weeks ago – but he is confident he is now fully fit.The niggles have limited him to four Pura Cup matches this season, however his results have been outstanding. He has 24 wickets this summer at 14.70 and has drawn praise from Victoria’s coach Greg Shipperd, who believes Siddle, 23, should be in the national selectors’ plans for the years ahead.”He’s bowled brilliantly in the games that he’s played for us,” Shipperd said. “He’s a really hit-the-wicket-hard, aggressive character and we have high hopes for him in the game and in the future.”The burden will not be entirely on Siddle when the final begins at the SCG on Saturday, with all of Victoria’s top bowlers available apart from Gerard Denton, who has ankle soreness. Shipperd said he had no doubt the Bushrangers could overcome the disadvantage of playing away from home.”It’s a wicket that is going to attract an outright result and so that’s what we need,” Shipperd said. “We played up there recently and the ball spun enormously day one, so we think that will assist all spinners in the game but it will also attract the opportunity to take 20 wickets and that’s what we’re looking for to win the game.”Last time Victoria played in a Pura Cup final they were destroyed by Queensland, who piled on 6 for 900 at the Gabba. That was only two seasons ago but the state’s personnel has changed significantly in that time and Shipperd is certain there will be no lingering anxiety in the current squad.”That’s in the distant memory now,” Shipperd said. “We’ve got different faces in the team, we’ve got a different bowling attack, we’ve got a side that’s got two years’ more experience under its belt.”Siddle was only a rookie back then and was not required for the decider. He has vivid memories of Victoria’s most recent Pura Cup triumph, which came at the MCG in 2003-04 when Siddle, then 19, was still making his way with his club side Dandenong.”It’s amazing, I can remember coming here four years ago when they won it at home here against Queensland, just watching those blokes then,” Siddle said. “Hearing about the celebrations and being part of the team and winning something so big, it is exciting and hopefully I can be a part of that myself.”Siddle and Shane Harwood are the two inclusions in Victoria’s 13-man squad with Darren Pattinson dropped from the side that beat Queensland on the weekend. The two main decisions for the selectors are whether to ask Rob Quiney or Lloyd Mash to open with Nick Jewell, and which of Clint McKay and Dirk Nannes will be retained in the attack.Victoria squad Nick Jewell, Rob Quiney, Lloyd Mash, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Shane Harwood, Peter Siddle, Clint McKay, Bryce McGain, Dirk Nannes.

Pat Cummins has revealed just how close he was to missing the entire Ashes series as he prepares to make his return from a back injury and captain Australia in Wednesday’s third Test at Adelaide Oval.Cummins has not played a competitive match for five months due to what Cricket Australia (CA) have called a “lumbar bone stress” issue in his lower back, and admitted on Tuesday that he had felt some soreness during his most recent Test appearance against West Indies at Sabina Park in July.He was initially considered doubtful for the entire Ashes series but has completed an “aggressive” rehabilitation plan unscathed, and was even considered for selection in the second Test at the Gabba. He will instead return in Adelaide this week, replacing Steven Smith as captain, and will not have any limitations on the number of overs he is allowed to bowl.Related

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Cummins sustained a series of lower-back injuries in his late teens and early 20s, which made him wait five-and-a-half years between his first and second Test caps. He said that he had developed “complete trust” in CA’s medical staff after many years of working with them but conceded that any setbacks in his recovery would have ruled him out of the series altogether.”I’m good to go,” Cummins said after Australia’s final pre-match training session. “I’ve been bowling [at] 100% for a while. If I’d played in Brisbane, I would probably have been on limited overs. But this week, it’s just ‘go and play’ like any other Test match.”The medical staff are the leading experts in this around the world. They see more of these injuries than anyone else, and I have complete trust in them. That’s probably the most comforting part.”I know I got asked a million times in the off-season, ‘Are you going to play?’. I genuinely didn’t know. As long as everything tracked well, I would be in this position, but we also knew that you’ve got to tread lightly around some of these injuries, and if there was a flare-up or a setback, I wouldn’t have played. We wouldn’t have risked it.”I feel like I’ve been really well managed and well supported, and we’ve all been pretty open-minded, the medical staff, coaches and myself, and luckily, things have played out pretty well.”0:44

Lyon: No point to prove in third Ashes Test

Cummins’ return still carries some level of risk after an unusually short rehabilitation programme, given he only resumed bowling at the end of October. But he was bullish about his fitness on Tuesday, even as he revealed that he had first felt discomfort in his back during the Jamaica Test in July when he did not bowl in a second innings that lasted just 14.3 overs.”I first felt it in West Indies,” Cummins said. “Second innings Jamaica, things happened pretty quickly and I was pretty happy not to bowl there: I was feeling a bit sore. I got an initial scan which showed something potentially brewing, but a lot of these times, the next scan shows a bit more, and four weeks later, I had another scan that looked a bit more serious.”We know the pathway that you need to do to come back from a stress injury like that. I had 16 weeks completely off bowling, make sure the bone heals really well, looking good, and then from there it’s ramping up. You normally try to ramp up – the medical staff will probably tell me I’ve got this completely wrong – maybe over three or four months.”That would obviously have meant that I missed the Ashes, so we set a pretty aggressive plan to get up in six or seven weeks. I haven’t had any hiccups, I’m feeling great, feeling probably better than I would have thought. The back’s healed well, so here we are.”Many teams would see Cummins’ return as an opportunity to put pressure on Australia’s attack by batting for as long as possible, but Ben Stokes said that it would not prompt England to explicitly change their gameplan. “I won’t be paying too much attention to the fact that Pat’s not played since July and try to use that as something to go at,” he said.Pat Cummins was very close to playing in Brisbane•PA Photos/Getty Images

There have been long breaks after the first two Tests of this series, but the final three will be played back-to-back-to-back, with only four scheduled days off in each gap. It is unlikely that Cummins will be available for all three, but Australia will have Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett fresh and ready to go after their omission for the third Test.Australia are 2-0 up in the series despite Cummins’ absence from the first two Tests, and the fact that Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out with hamstring and Achilles injuries. Jhye Richardson, who won his most recent Test cap against England in Adelaide four years ago, has also been training with the squad this week as he returns from shoulder surgery.”It’s incredible. It shows great depth in the Aussie cricket system at the moment with fast bowlers,” Cummins said. “It’s almost worked out perfectly. We’re halfway through a series. I’ve come back online, you’ve got Ness [Neser] and Doggy [Doggett] who are resting from this week but obviously got themselves into the series and are available for the last two games.”We’ve seen Jhye Richardson out the back bowling, so it feels like everything has come together and we’re not just hanging on to the end of the series like sometimes you are. We’re actually peaking, and [will] hopefully have heaps of resources available.”The guys who have stepped in have been fantastic. I think it’s huge credit to those guys that have stepped in, but also the coaches, and Steve [Smith] managing them throughout the game.”

Match facts

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

Chennai and Punjab clashed for the first time in the second match of the Indian Premier League and a century from Michael Hussey ensured that the match was a no-contest. Since then Punjab have hit a formidable run of form, and are on a five-match winning streak, while Chennai took a beating after their top performers left. Punjab’s strength lies in their contingent of effective Indian bowlers – Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, VRV Singh and Piyush Chawla – which allows them to pack their top order with quality international batsmen to complement Yuvraj Singh.Chennai suffered three consecutive defeats before they were able to fine-tune their combination after the departures of Matthew Hayden, Hussey and Jacob Oram and beat the Delhi Daredevils. They restructured their batting order: dropping Parthiv Patel, who had scored 96 in seven innings, and opening with S Vidyut. They also promoted their best batsmen – Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Albie Morkel – to No. 3 and No. 5 respectively with Suresh Raina at No 4. The changes gave Chennai’s batting solidity at the top and the tinkering was vindicated as they chased down 188.

Tournament position

Chennai Super Kings P8, W5, L3, NRR -0.001
Kings XI Punjab P7, W5, L2, NRR +0.442

IPL form (last five matches)

Chennai Super Kings: WLLLW
Kings XI Punjab: WWWWW

Watch out for …

Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, may not be available for the Indian Premier League’s auction on Wednesday because of a legal complication. Lawyers for the Indian Cricket League (ICL) have, in a letter to the owners of the IPL’s eight franchises, said Yousuf’s legal status is currently the subject of arbitration, under which his participation in the IPL has been stayed.”Mohammad Yousuf cannot participate in the tournament organised by the IPL or any other tournament organised by any other league in direct competition with the Indian Cricket League,” ALMT, the lawyers representing the ICL, said in the letter. “Such participation would amount to breach of the order and our client reserve their right to take such other legal recourse against all parties concerned.”Yousuf initially signed up with the ICL after being dropped from Pakistan’s squad for the World Twenty20 last September. Soon after, however, he was convinced by the PCB to turn his back on the ICL, represent Pakistan and also sign up with the IPL, the rival tournament officially sanctioned by the BCCI.The matter went into arbitration where Yousuf’s lawyer, Tafuzzal Rizvi, argued he had “no contract” with the ICL as the money [paid to Yousuf] was “received back by the ICL without any objection”. However the presiding judge passed an order on December 15, 2007, restraining Yousuf from appearing in the IPL or any league rivalling the ICL, and to maintain status quo till further orders.Wednesday’s high-profile auction in Mumbai will see the eight franchises bid for 80-odd players, including several top internationals. Yousuf’s name is included in the IPL’s roster but whether it will be there on Wednesday morning is a moot point.

Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, feels his wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni shortly before stumps on day two was a turning point for Pakistan in the Feroz Shah Kotla Test. Kaneria said that moment allowed Pakistan the chance to come back in the game, and given the aim was to set India at least a 300-run target, he could have a winning role in the series opener.”Sachin Tendulkar’s run out and disturbing the Dhoni-[VVS] Laxman partnership were important” said Kaneria after an absorbing day’s play. “Dhoni’s wicket was a good breakthrough, especially when they have a long tail. Dhoni is in good form and is an aggressive player who keeps the scoreboard ticking. So claiming his wicket has helped the team a lot.”India were in serious trouble at 93 for 5 but a115-run sixth-wicket stand between Laxman and Dhoni took them extremely close to Pakistan’s total of 231. Kaneria still felt the match was could swing either team’s way.”This is a five-day match and every day is different with one team up one day and another the next day. Today it is balanced,” he said. “We have come back in the match after the breakthrough. Tomorrow morning we will do well.”Batting on day four, said Kaneria, would not be easy. “We did not have the first innings advantage but we’ll give them a target as the fourth day will be difficult to bat with the wicket deteriorating and becoming very slow and low. If we give them a target of 300 we can win the match.”There has not been much sunlight on these two days so wicket has not broken yet. It could be difficult to play spin tomorrow. We will like to come and bowl them out in the morning tomorrow. I can have a vital role in winning the match for Pakistan.”Meanwhile, injured fast bowler Umar Gul, ruled out of this Test with a back sprain, remains in doubt for the second Test. According to Salahuddin Ahmed, chief selector, Pakistan may call up Rao Iftikhar Anjum as his replacement. “I don’t think Gul will be fit for the second Test. We may bring Iftikhar Anjum back to India,” Salahuddin told PTI. “Iftikhar did very well in the ODIs against South Africa.”An unnamed source in the Pakistan team disclosed that a decision on Gul would be taken in the next few days. “We have sent the [MRI] reports to Pakistan and after consulting with the orthopedics and other medical experts a decision will be taken on whether to retain him or send him back,” the source said.