Irfan Pathan [Images] gave India a rousing start, claiming a hat-trick in the first over of the third Test against Pakistan in Karachi on Sunday.

The left-arm paceman became only the second Indian bowler to claim a Test match hat-trick, after India captain Rahul Dravid [Images] won the toss and elected to field on a seaming track at the National stadium.

Harbhajan Singh [Images], who made way for former India captain Sourav Ganguly [Images] in the Test, was the first Indian to take a Test hat-trick. He achieved the feat against Australia in the epic second Test in Kolkata, in the 2001 series.

Pathan provided India the breakthrough on the fourth ball, with the wicket of left-hander Salman Butt [Images], who was caught by Rahul Dravid in second slip.

He followed it up with two scorching in-dippers -- the first had stand-in captainYounis Khan trapped leg before wicket and the next got through the defences of Mohammed Yousuf.

The home team suffered a big blow when captain Inzamam-ul-Haq [Images] pulled out, not feeling 100 per cent fit because of a back strain.

India made one change from the team that drew the second Test at Faisalabad, bringing in Ganguly for off-spinner Harbhajan, while Faisal Iqbal [Images] replaced Inzamam in the Pakistan eleven, with Younis taking over as the captain.

After two high-scoring draws in Lahore [Images] and Faisalabad, the Karachi track, known to favour bowlers, is expected to break the series deadlock.

The teams:

India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag [Images], VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar [Images], Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh [Images], Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] (wk), Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan [Images], Rudra Pratap Singh, Anil Kumble [Images]. 12th man: Gautam Gambhir [Images].

Pakistan: Younis Khan (captain), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat [Images], Mohammad Yousuf [Images], Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Afridi [Images], Kamran Akmal (wk), Abdul Razzaq [Images], Mohamed Asif, Shoaib Akhtar [Images], Danish Kaneria. 12th man: Umar Gul.

Umpires: Simon Taufel and Darryl Harper (Both Australia).

Third umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan)

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka [Images]).