Munaf certainly can’t be expected to replicate that unnatural delivery — that was Harbhajan’s duty rather. As the specialist off-spinner he was the more likely candidate to do the damage today. Post a blank set of 31 overs in the second innings, his reputation here didn’t get enhanced at a critical stage, but the man who did manage to uplift his image further happened to be the stand-in Pakistan skipper.

Younis Khan scored an unbeaten 107 — his second in two matches here and the fifth century against India in eight appearances, But more importantly, he stood firm for 214 minutes at the crease; and giving him support was his most reliable partner in time of crisis — Mohammad Yousuf with a sedate 44 — as Pakistan finished at 214/4.

With Harbhajan not really shining, skipper Anil Kumble went over and around the wicket, bowled from both end, pitched in the middle and in the rough.

Kumble shook his head as he walked back into the dressing room, muttering under his breath. The wicket did not spit venom as India had largely expected. And the home bowlers were tamed by an inspired performers in both innings. The draw here was more a victory for Pakistan as India lost, in every sense of the word, the chance to seal the series here.

Kumble’s two wickets in the post-lunch session had sparked some interest in an otherwise quiet day, where Pakistan looked content to stand and defend rather than chase the target of 345.

India had batted for the first 36 minutes of the day, played 40 balls to score 43 runs where Sourav Ganguly went past 6000 runs in Test cricket, before being bowled on 46 by a Shoaib Akhtar slower delivery. And then the declaration came.

Zaheer Khan took the early wicket of Yasir Hameed with a reflex return catch as India hoped for a fruitful outing. Kumble sent back Akmal, who came in to open this time, in the second ball after lunch and later on trapped No.3 Salman Butt. Meanwhile, Misbah, dropped first ball off Kumble, fell to a classic off-break from Munaf after facing 14 more. Three wickets in one session and it looked like India were going places, but then Pakistan swung the Yo-Yo on the hosts’ face.

Younis was the more confident of the two; he landed his foot close to the pitch of the ball, was intent on playing a dead bat rather than driving against the spin through the vast vacant places and, on this pitch, knew exactly which ball to go back and punch. Younis read the ball from the bowler’s hand and reached his half-century in the last over before tea with six boundaries to help his cause. His confidence grew further as Yousuf got over his initial tentativeness in playing the front foot with six men hounding him from close quarters.

As the match meandered towards a draw, Younis travelled from 98 to 102 with a reverse sweep off Harbhajan. He hit his 14th boundary soon after the ton.

In his second match doing stand-in duty, Younis played a captain’s knock to save the second Test here. Chances are that the original skipper may not make it to the final eleven in Bangalore and Younis may have to again stand up. And he will have his entire team, fit and rejuvenated, by his side to try and make the series level.

Scoreboard

India, 1st Innings: 616/5 decl

Pakistan, 1st Innings: 456

India, 2nd Innings

(overnight: 141/2)

MS Dhoni b Akhtar 37

S Ganguly b Akhtar 46

R Dravid not out 8

Extras: (3lb, 6nb) 9

Total: (4 wkts, 42.4 overs) 184 decl

Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-95, 3-166, 4-184

Bowling: Akhtar 12.4-0-46-2, Tanvir 9-0-41-0, Sami 5-1-28-0, Kaneria 15-0-61-2, Butt 1-0-5-0

Pakistan, 2nd Innings

Y Hameed c and b Zaheer 14

K Akmal b Kumble 14

S Butt lbw b Kumble 11

Y Khan not out 107

M-ul-Haq b Patel 6

M Yousuf not out 43

Extras: (8b, 7lb, 4nb) 19

Total: (4 wkts, 77 overs) 214

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-37, 3-65, 4-78

Bowling: Zaheer 8-0-32-1, Kumble 25-4-73-2, Munaf 10-3-21-1, Harbhajan 31-5-68-0, Tendulkar 3-0-5-0