The off-side king

The pitch was flat, the conditions were excellent, the bowling attack was toothless, and Younis Khan capitalised, scoring his third century against India in successive Tests. The feature of his unbeaten 147 was his magnificent driving through covers and point: a staggering 89 runs came in that region, while three-quarters of his total runs were scored through the off side. And the ease with which he played the Indian attack can be gleaned from the fact that his in-control factor - that's the number of deliveries he middled or left alone - was an astonishing 95%, which meant the Indians hardly had an opportunity to nail him.

Through the second half of the day, Younis found an able ally in Mohammad Yousuf. The two added 190 in just 40.3 overs, that's a run-rate of 4.69 per over. What made the partnership even better was the manner in which the two batsmen complemented each other: of Younis's 88 runs, 67 came on the off side (76%), while Yousuf scored almost 60% of his runs (56 out of 95) on the leg side.

For the Indian bowlers, it was a hopeless battle. The first-day pitch should have offered some assistance to the fast bowlers, but Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan hardly drew any false strokes - the not-in-control factor against them was a mere 5.5%. At 8%, it wasn't much better for India's spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbahajan Singh, who both went at four an over.