For Laxmipathy Balaji, it was a day, and a 'return' to remember.

In his first international game after a long lay-off, the pencil-slim right-handed paceman from Chennai bagged his best 'return' in Test cricket.

His first 'five-for' in Test cricket ensured Pakistan's demise for 312 in the first innings. His bowling, as also that of Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan earlier in the day, justified Sourav Ganguly's decision to bowl first after winning the toss.

Irfan and Zaheer made the ball swing like a boomerang in the initial overs.

After a couple of wayward overs, both settled down and had the batsmen in all sorts of trouble. Salman Butt and vice-captain Younis Khan fell early. Taufeeq Umar, who underwent a torrid time, unable to come to terms with the prodigious movement in the air and off the pitch that the Indian seamers were getting, survived till the stroke of lunch, before becoming Balaji's first victim. He had done all the hard work, and should have stayed on to capitalize in the next two sessions, but Balaji undid his efforts.

The movement posed no problems to Inzamam-ul-Haq, who batted fluently in characteristic style. It was however amusing to hear commentator after commentator call upon the youngsters in the Pakistani team to 'observe how their captain was playing the ball late'. What these esteemed gentlemen in all their wisdom overlooked was that Inzamam was in a league of his own. If lesser talents started concentrating on playing the ball late, they were likely to see the ball rapping their pads or the stumps cartwheeling!

One youngster who has picked up the right tips from Inzamam is the classy Asim Kamal. He mixed grace with aggression in an innings that yielded 91. He was out nine runs short of what would have been a maiden Test hundred, when he played across to Balaji and missed. It was his first major mistake of the innings. Not for nothing has Sunil Gavaskar advocated that batsmen should not look at the scoreboard when they are batting, for seeing that you are in the forties or nineties can often put you under unnecessary pressure.

Sourav Ganguly will be a satisfied man. He will be ecstatic if the Indian top-order bats through the first session on day two and lay the foundation for a huge score.