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Pakistan fought back to reduce India to 74 for four wickets after left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan had shocked the home side with a sensational hat-trick, bundling them out for 245 on the first day of the third Test here. Pacer Mohammed Asif took two wickets and Abdul Razzaq snared the prized scalp of Sachin Tendulkar - playing a Test at the National Stadium after 16 years - to stage a remarkable fight back and share honours on a pitch that helped pacers. At stumps, when play ended 11 overs before the scheduled close due to poor visibility, left-handers Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh were at the crease on nine and seven respectively. Earlier, Pathan scalped three wickets - Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf - in his opening over to help reduce Pakistan to 39 for five. The Younis Khan-led Pakistan would have been in greater trouble but for Kamran Akmal's defiant fourth Test century (113, 148 balls, 18x4s). The diminutive Akmal not only negated to an extent Pathan's first hat-trick in Test cricket, but stayed put at the crease to be associated with two crucial partnerships that helped the side recover from morass. Akmal first joined hands with Razzaq (45, 79 balls, 7x4s) to raise 115 for the seventh wicket and then he and Shoaib Akhtar (45, 60 balls, 8x4s) added 82 crucial runs for the eighth wicket to guide Pakistan to the eventual total of 245 in 60.1 overs. That the four-man Indian bowling attack - besides part timer Ganguly - failed to nail Pakistan when they were tottering at 39 for five shows both their inability to deliver a knockout punch. Pathan finished with five for 61, while Rudra Pratap Singh, who also bowled very well, took three for 66 on a pitch that sported some grass and helped the pace bowlers. When India batted, captain Rahul Dravid surprisingly opened with V.V.S. Laxman instead of regular opener Virender Sehwag. The opening pair put on just nine before Dravid was bowled by Asif. With the total at 14, Virender Sehwag also departed edging a ball to wicketkeeper Akmal off fast bowler Akhtar. Asif returned to castle Laxman with a sharp in-cutter and Razzaq went delirious when he found the gate between Tendulkar's bat and pad. Earlier, Pathan performed Test cricket's 36th hat-trick when he dismissed three Pakistanis in the opening over of the Test. Pathan, who has already taken three hat-tricks at various junior levels, struck with the fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries of his first over to give India a sensational start. Pathan, 21, thus becomes only the second Indian, after off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, to achieve the marvellous feat. Harbhajan had achieved the hat-trick in the second Test against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001. The Vadodara pacer had come close to performing the feat in Test cricket a few times earlier, including in a match against Bangladesh on the tour of that country in late 2004. Overall, it was the 36th hat-trick in Test cricket since Australia's F.R. Spofforth first performed the feat against England in Melbourne in 1878-79. Spofforth had dismissed V.P.F.A. Royle, F.A. Mackinnon and T. Emmett for the achievement. Australia' T.J. Matthews is the only bowler till date to take two separate hat-tricks in a single Test. He did so against South Africa in Manchester in 1912. In the first innings, Matthews accounted for R. Beaumont, S.J. Pegler, T.A. Ward, while in the second innings he dismissed H.W. Taylor, R.O. Schwartz and T.A. Ward. The Indian team is in Pakistan on a 45-day tour, during which it will also play five one-day internationals. India and Pakistan have so far played five Tests in Karachi, with the home side winning two. India are yet to register their first win at the National Stadium, while three Tests have drawn. The first two tests of the ongoing series, at Lahore and Faisalabad, had ended in tame draws. SCOREBOARDDay 1, Third Test, India vs. Pakistan, National Stadium, Karachi, Jan 29 Pakistan (1st innings): Salman Butt c Dravid b Pathan 0Imran Farhat c Dhoni b R.P. Singh 22Younis Khan lbw b Pathan 0Mohammad Yousuf b Pathan 0Faisal Iqbal lbw b Khan 5Shahid Afridi b Khan 10Abdul Razzaq lbw b R.P. Singh 45Kamran Akmal c Dhoni b Pathan 113Shoaib Akhtar c Yuvraj b Pathan 45Mohammad Asif c Laxman b R.P. Singh 0Danish Kaneria not out 0 Extras: (leg byes 2, wide 2, no ball 1) 5Total: (all out in 60.1 overs) 245 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Butt, 0.4 overs), 2-0 (Younis, 0.5), 3-0 (Yousuf, 0.6), 4-13 (Iqbal, 5.2), 5-37 (Afridi, 9.5), 6-39 (Farhat, 10.3), 7-154 (Razzaq, 36.6 ov), 8-236 (Akmal, 56.2), 9-245 (Asif, 59.4) Bowling: Irfan Pathan 17.1 4 61 5 (2w)Zaheer Khan 15 2 75 2Rudra Pratap Singh 16 1 66 3Sourav Ganguly 2 0 9 0 (1nb)Anil Kumble 10 1 32 0 India (1st innings): V.V.S. Laxman b Asif 19Rahul Dravid c Akmal b Asif 3Virender Sehwag c Akmal b Akhtar 5Sachin Tendulkar b Razzaq 23Sourav Ganguly batting 9Yuvraj Singh batting 7 Extras: (lb 1, nb 7) 8Total: (for four wickets in 16 overs) 74 Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Dravid, 3.2 overs), 2-14 (Sehwag, 4.3), 3-56 (Laxman, 11.6), 4-56 (Tendulkar, 12.4) Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 6-1-26-1 (nb 2)Mohammad Asif 7-0-29-2 (nb 3)Abdul Razzaq 3-1-18-1 (nb 2)
Toss: IndiaUmpires: Simon Taufel and Daryl Harper (both Australia) Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)Third umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan)Reserve umpire: Saleem Badar (Pakistan)
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