Close Pakistan 210 for 5 (Iqbal 78*, Latif 30*) trail Australia 467 (Ponting 141, Langer 72, Martyn 67, Gilchrist 66*, Saqlain 4-136, Shoaib 3-51) by 257 runs
Scorecard

With Australia dismissed for 467 and Pakistan replying with 210 for 5, you might think this was a fairly ordinary day in Colombo. It was anything but. This was a day of three distinct parts, each in sharp contrast to the other.

In the first session, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist added 123 runs as a lacklustre Pakistan failed to pick up a wicket; in the second, Pakistan got five Australian wickets in the space of 10 runs and then stuttered to 50 for 3; and in the last session of the day, they made 160 runs for the loss of just two wickets, mainly due to a stirring, Test-best 78 not out off 80 balls from Faisal Iqbal.

The biggest dramatic element of the day came from the battle between Faisal and Shane Warne, won emphatically by Faisal. Nonchalantly chewing gum with a swagger reminiscent of his uncle, Javed Miandad, Iqbal exuded a confidence that came not just from youthful enthusiasm – he is only 20 years old - but also from pure talent. He stepped out in his first over against Warne and smashed him over his head to the straight boundary. Then he leaned back to a short ball in the next over and hammered it through cover for four, but that was only l'aperitif.

The main course came half-an-hour before the close in what turned out to be Warne's last over of the day. First, Faisal stepped out and executed a repeat of that first four; this one though, was inside-out and sped to the long-off boundary. The next ball he cover-drove for two, and then swept Warne for four to bring up his fifty. Another lofted straight-drive followed, and then he stepped out and smashed him imperiously past cover for four more. Eighteen off the over: Warne blinked his eyes and disappeared out of the attack.

Faisal was equally forceful against the quick bowlers – an on-the-rise straight-drive off Jason Gillespie took the breath away – and gave Pakistan hope of averting the follow-on, something which looked extremely unlikely when they were 116 for 5, still 351 behind the Aussies.

Yet for half an hour after lunch you wouldn't have thought Pakistan were the underdogs. Martyn and Gilchrist hadn't looked like getting out in the morning session, determinedly building on the total rather than destroying the bowling, but once Martyn (67) was wrongly given out caught by Younis Khan off Saqlain Mushtaq – the ball hit him on the arm – they were unable to survive.

Shoaib Akhtar blasted through Warne, Brett Lee and Gillespie with a mixture of raw pace and reverse-swing, and Saqlain Mushtaq picked up Glenn McGrath to leave Gilchrist stranded on 66, bemused at a carnage which, for once, he hadn't caused. Australia had slipped from 457 for 5 to 467 all out.

McGrath and Gillespie then came steaming in, as if seeking revenge for their batting failures, and each of them picked up a Pakistan opener for nought. Imran Nazir played across the line at McGrath and was trapped in front (2 for 1), while Taufeeq Umar appeared equally out of his depth. He was squared up by Gillespie and edged to Ricky Ponting at third slip (4 for 2).

Younis Khan then launched a ferocious counter-attack, with some spectacular straight-driving off both Gillespie and McGrath, but he seemed unable to find support. Abdul Razzaq (11), known to be iffy against quality legspin, was out to a classical leggie's dismissal, lured onto the front foot and into an expansive drive which only yielded the thinnest of edges to Gilchrist (45 for 3).

Younis reached his fifty after tea, but an uppish drive to cover off Lee cost him his wicket, as Justin Langer took a fine diving catch (75 for 4). Enter Faisal. Misbah-ul-Haq pottered around for a while, but it was Rashid Latif's 94-run stand with Faisal that took Pakistan to a respectable position.

Five wickets fell on the first day, ten on the second. A mathematician would extend that to its logical number-series conclusion, and predict the fall of 15 more tomorrow. After a day like this, who would scoff at that?

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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