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India tour Pakistan
- Samsung Cup 2004 |
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Inzamam gets right to choose track for
second Test
LAHORE: Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq will
choose the nature of the wicket for Monday's second Test match
against India after he criticised the placid Multan track for
nullifying his pace bowling attack in the home team's opening Test
loss earlier this week.
"Skipper Inzamam will make the final decision on the pitch,"
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan told reporters on
Saturday.
"If we wants, he can take the assistance from coach Javed Miandad
and manager Haroon Rasheed, who are both experienced former Test
cricketers," Khan said.
Losing the opening Test to India within a week of conceding a 3-2
one-day series victory to its South Asian archrival, has spurred
furious criticism among fans, and in the media.
India coasted to an easy victory on Thursday to claim only its third
overseas innings triumph in 72 years, and secure its first ever Test
win on Pakistan soil.
Pakistan national coach Miandad and Inzamam on Saturday made two
visits to the center of Lahore's Gadaffi Stadium to inspect the
pitch being prepared for next week's Test.
"Seems we'll get a green-top," team manager Rasheed told The
Associated Press, while Miandad hasn't been comfortable talking
about his role in choosing the track.
Miandad said he had no authority over the pitches being prepared,
but local newspapers reported him as saying that skipper Inzamam
should monitor the track and choose one of his own choice.
"The captain is the leader in the field, his judgment of selecting
pitches counts," Miandad was quoted as saying by Express, a leading
Urdu language newspaper.
Miandad and Inzamam were on Saturday locked in an animated
discussion as they observed the track being prepared under the
supervision of English curator Andy Atkinson.
Atkinson has been in charge of the pitches at all international
venues in Pakistan since their 3-0 victory against Bangladesh last
year.
Board chairman Khan promised a lively track for the Lahore Test, but
said the Multan turf should not be blamed for Pakistan's defeat.
"There's nothing to be disheartened as victory and defeat are both
part of the game," he said.
"But the Indian team should get credit for playing well and
displaying its discipline."
Spurring the pitch debate were Inzamam's comments during the first
Test that Pakistan's bowlers were "genuine pacers who thrived on
fast and bouncy tracks."
Inzamam said his bowlers weren't seamers who depended on balls that
wobbled in or out, hinting at India's swing oriented medium-pacer
attack.
The Indian seamers' disciplined line won the match in tandem with
ace, leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who claimed six wickets in the second
innings to create panic among Pakistan's batsmen.
Former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam, who was the manager of Imran
Khan's 1992 World Cup winning team, told reporters that Pakistan's
team management "did not seem to have a clue how to stem India's
flow of runs in the first Test."
"There was a bankruptcy of ideas. If we continue to play like this,
we might end up losing all three Tests," Alam told reporters.
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