Pakistan’s morale went down after Irfan Pathan’s early hattrick, reveals Mohammad Asif

It was the first time in the long-standing history between the two sides that the Test match started with such chaos. In the 2006 Karachi Test, after electing to bowl first, India got off to the best start possible, with left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan picking up a hat-trick in the very first over of the innings. On his fourth ball, he got one to swing away to dismiss Salman Butt before getting the ball to swing back into the right-hander to capture the skipper Younis Khan. 

The all-rounder saved the best for the last when he bowled a banana inswinger to get the experienced Mohammad Yousuf caught up in two minds at the crease, sealing his hat-trick. Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif recalled that the home side’s morale went down soon after the Indian all-rounder’s hat-trick in the Test. 

"When the match started, Irfan Pathan claimed a hat-trick in the first over itself. Our morale was down. Kamran Akmal scored a century lower down the order. We scored around 240 runs," said Asif.

The right-arm pacer also revealed an interesting story from the encounter, where he witnessed Indian great, Sachin Tendulkar closing his eyes to the bowling of Shoaib Akhtar. Recalling the incident, he reckoned that Akhtar’s pace caught Sachin off-guard. 

"When we started bowling, Shoaib Akhtar bowled at express pace in that match. I was standing at square leg near the umpire and I myself saw that Tendulkar closed his eyes while facing one or two bouncers bowled by Shoaib. 

"The Indians were playing on the back foot and we didn't allow them to score even 240 in the first innings. We snatched victory from the jaws of defeat," he concluded.