Karachi, January 29:

Kamran Akmal smashed 113 to rescue Pakistan after Indian seamer Irfan Pathan had grabbed a hat-trick in a dramatic start to the final Test here on Sunday.

The wicket-keeper’s fourth Test hundred helped Pakistan recover from a disastrous 39-6 within the first hour to reach 245 in their first innings. The seaming wicket at the National Stadium did not spare the Indians either, who were 74-4 in reply at stumps and waging a grim struggle for survival at the crease.

Akmal was once more in the thick of the action, taking catches off Indian captain Rahul Dravid (3) and Virender Sehwag (5).

India lost two wickets at 56 when Venkatsai Laxman (19) was bowled by a huge in-cutter from Mohammad Asif and Sachin Tendulkar (23) also had his stumps shattered by Abdul Razzaq.

Former captain Sourav Ganguly (9) and Yuvraj Singh (7) were at the crease when time ran out with 11 overs still remaining to be bowled. Pakistan were rocked by Pathan’s hat-trick in the first over of the match. The left-arm seamer had Salman Butt caught at first slip off the fourth delivery, trapped stand-in captain Younis Khan leg-before with the fifth and clean bowled Mohammad Yousuf off the sixth.

Pathan finished with five for 61, while fellow left-arm seamers Rudra Pratap Singh and Zaheer Khan shared the remaining five wickets as Pakistan’s innings lasted less than five hours.

Akmal put on 115 for the seventh wicket with Razzaq (45) and 82 for the eighth with Shoaib Akhtar (45). Akmal hit 18 boundaries in a brilliant counter-attack. Faisal Iqbal, who replaced Inzamam, fell leg-before to Zaheer for five to make it 31-4 in the sixth over.

Zaheer then bowled the dangerous Shahid Afridi for 10 as the batsman attempted to loft a good-length ball for six. Pakistan slumped from 37-5 to 39-6 as opener Imran Farhat (22) edged a wild heave off Singh and gave Dhoni an easy catch.

Pathan joined Harbhajan Singh as the only Indian bowlers to claim the coveted hat-trick in Test cricket. Off-spinner Singh achieved the feat against Australia in Kolkata in 2001.

Pathan’s feat was the 36th instance of a Test hat-trick but the first time it has happened in the opening over of the match.