Inzamam century puts Pakistan in command

Centuries for Inzamam-ul-Haq and Taufeeq Umar on the third day of the third Test put Pakistan in complete control against Zimbabwe in Harare on Monday.

Inzamam's 112 made him only the second Pakistani to reach 6,000 Test runs after Javed Miandad, and it was only the 16th time in Test history that a batsman scored 100 runs in the session before lunch.

Pakistan were eventually bowled out for 369 as opener Taufeeq Umar made 111 to stabilise a sometimes lackadaisical innings by the tourists.

Zimbabwe reached 19 for one in search of an unlikely victory target of 430 when bad light ended play 13 overs early. Dion Ebrahim and Alistair Campbell were both nine not out.

Pakistan were dismissed for 285 in their first innings, to which Zimbabwe replied with 225.

Inzamam began his innings needing 32 runs to join Pakistan's 6,000 club. He bludgeoned 48 runs of his half century in boundaries, needing just 53 balls to reach it.

He was out five balls after reaching his 17th Test hundred, having faced 107 balls and hit 20 fours.

Pakistan started the day on 14 for one and suffered their only loss of the morning session to the 15th ball of the day, when Younis Khan played away from his body and edged a delivery from fast bowler Henry Olonga to Campbell at second slip.

Taufeeq Umar batted for six hours and faced 229 balls before he became one of Andy Blignaut's three victims.

INZAMAM REACHES 6,000-RUN MARK

Inzamam-ul-Haq said he had set himself a career target of 10,000 runs after becoming the second Pakistan to score 6,000 runs on the third day of the first Test against Zimbabwe in Harare on Monday.

"If I play for another four or five years and work hard I hope to pass 9,000 runs, and perhaps reach 10 000," Inzamam told Reuters. "I also have a target of 30 centuries."

But the giant batsman shunned comparisons with the great Javed Miandad, the only other Pakistani to reach 6,000 runs. He totalled 8,832 runs in his career.

"I was very happy with my innings, but I'm not near Javed Miandad," Inzamam said. "He scored almost 9,000 runs and I've only scored 6,000."

"I got lots of loose balls to hit, that's why I didn't need to run much," Inzamam said. "But I'm ready to run if I need to."

He paid tribute to opener Taufeeq Umar, with whom he shared 180 runs for the third wicket and who scored a more sedate 111 off 229 balls with 13 fours.

"He played better than me, because he is a genuine opener and he had to bat through more difficult periods than me," Inzamam said.

Match report: Day 1 | Day 2

Mail Cricket Editor