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A Thriller Expected.

Bold batting from Pakistan's Shahid Afridi has set up an intriguing final day in the second Test against India.

Afridi smashed 59 before falling to Anil Kumble as the tourists ended day four in Calcutta on 95-1, chasing 422.

Earlier, India declared on 407-9, with Rahul Dravid (135) posting his second century of the match and putting on 165 with wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik (93).

Irfan Pathan weighed in with a rapid 38, while Mohammad Sami and Danish Kaneria ended with three wickets each.

Pakistan began the day looking for quick wickets and Sami gave them the perfect start to leave the hosts reeling early on.

Indian skipper Ganguly was dismissed off a wild hook in the ninth over of the day.

And VVS Laxman had faced just four deliveries before he was felled by a lifting delivery which hit him on the eye.

But Dravid looked solid on a pitch showing signs of wear, the right-hander showing exquisite timing against all the bowlers.

In an innings lasting just over six hours, he faced 283 balls, hitting 15 boundaries, before hoisting spinner Kaneria to long-off.


He had an able partner in Karthik, who scored with a slight off-side bias.

The 19-year-old was denied a maiden Test century by Kaneria, who sneaked past his sweep just before the tea break to bowl him.

After the interval it was a question of when India would declare and Laxman returned to step up the scoring rate with Pathan.

The duo both hoisted Kaneria for sixes before the leg-spinner had his revenge by having Laxman stumped.

All-rounder Abdul Razzaq dismissed Harbhajan Singh and Laxmipathy Balaji in quick succession but Kumble and Pathan continued the onslaught.

Another Pathan boundary off Razzaq prompted Ganguly to call the batsmen in and give Pakistan 21 overs to negotiate on the fourth evening.

Afridi, as is his wont, did not suggest a dogged battle for survival was his plan.

He went audaciously after a wide Balaji delivery and lofted it towards long-off before a beautiful straight drive off Pathan brought him a boundary.

Taufeeq Umar had a slight scare when he edged Balaji past third slip, but he recovered to drive the next ball down the ground.

The next Pathan over saw Afridi produce two shots full of aggressive intent: the first a superb drive to the point boundary and then a pull over mid-wicket.

The introduction of the spinners could not contain Afridi, who smashed Harbhajan over the long-off boundary and despatched a Kumble full-toss with some ferocity through mid-wicket.

Another lofted shot to long-off brought up his fifth Test half-century off exactly 50 balls.

Pathan landed one blow on his body but then saw the next ball top-edged for six over fine leg.

Afridi's enterprise cost him shortly before stumps, as an attempted sweep off Kumble ballooned up to Ganguly at short fine-leg.

His departure may have calmed talk of an unlikely run chase, but Pakistan will be confident of at least batting out the final day - as they did in Mohali.