No star is bigger than the team

If a bowler is even slightly unfit, he simply does not deserve a place in the team. Pakistan realized that to their peril on the 1st day. If your mainline bowlers can’t even bowl ten overs in a day, that speaks volumes not only about the think-tank, but also about the quality of bowling at a side’s disposal.

Probably Akhtar did not want his commitment to the cause to be questioned, especially with Pak winning the toss and, like India, batting for nearly one and a half days.

But then, Akhtar's inability to play an important role on the most important day of the series for Pakistan, virtually took Kolkatta out of winning equation for Pak. It was also the flawed thinking of the highest order to have played an unfit bowler in a four bowler attack.

Probably, Pakistan could have afforded Akhtar in a five-bowler attack. Or if they had someone like Sourav Ganguly to take care of some of the overs.If it was a gamble, it misfired completely!

Jaffer's tremendous 202

It was a double century worth its weight in gold. The best thing about Jaffer's knock was that nearly 2 out of every three runs that came from Jaffer’s blade were scored off the onside, which showed the inability of the Pakistan bowlers to bowl a controlled length to him.

In fact, nearly one in three of his runs came off the mid-wicket region.Also the fact the Jaffer scored less than ten runs from third man and fineleg areas, showed he was in full control of his shots most of the time.

No wonder, he went on to play the third highest innings at Eden. The best has been Laxman’s epic 281 against Australia six years ago. Rohan Kanhai made 256 for the West Indies against India in 1958-59. In fact, his 192 on day one were also the third highest by an Indian in a day's play. Sehwag occupies the top two places. The knocks are his 228 on way to 309 against Pak at Multan, and 195 on day one of Melbourne test in 2003-04 series.