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India tour Pakistan
- Samsung Cup 2004 |
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India tour Pakistan
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Indians eyeing first-ever Test series triumph
LAHORE: Pressure. That's what this second
Test here is going to be all about. Unadulterated and total
pressure. Fortunately for India, they are in the rare, happy
position to be taking advantage of that pressure, not fighting to
survive it.
That would be Pakistan's problem. And captain Inzamam-ul-Haq,
looking deeply worried and speaking very clearly, admitted things
looked very bad for the home side. "There's too much pressure, just
too much," he said. "We're playing at home, there's that pressure.
And more importantly, there's the pressure of how badly we've played
in the last game." Inzamam made no bones about the fact that
Pakistan were looking at an uphill task following their humiliating
defeat in the Multan Test. "India are playing very well, the onus is
on us to do something special but it looks very difficult at the
moment."
The laidback Pakistani skipper did say that he had told his players
not to look back at what happened in the last game but play
positively and look ahead -- however, they would know as well as
Inzamam that there are stormclouds brewing for Pakistani cricket.
Most people have taken the embarrassing innings and 52-run loss in
one of two ways --- resignation or embarrassment. Things have gotten
to such a stage that the Foreign Office was forced to deny that the
defeat was engineered to help Atal Bihari Vajpayee win the general
elections.
"Winning or losing is not part of the CBMs (Confidence Building
Measures)," FO spokesman Masood Khan said on Saturday, adding that
the people had to demonstrate sportsmanship".
In such a situation, there is tremendous pressure on Inzamam and his
motley crew. He is obviously a very angry man. Not just because of
the various allegations that have plagued the Pakistan camp but also
because of the non-performance of his star cast of bowlers.
"Shoaib, Sami and Shabbir have a long way to go before they can be
world-class, of the level of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis,"
he said. "And if they give the kind of performances that they did in
the last Test, they will never become world class. They will have to
perform."
It was a brutal indictment of how the Pakistani pace-attack has
performed, not just in Multan but also more or less through this
tour against a very string Indian batting line-up. They haven't just
been erratic, they've been almost reckless in the way they've just
come steaming in to bowl, without any apparent thought for field
placings or any plan to outwit the batsmen. At the beginning of the
Multan Test, many watchers blamed the flat, slow
pitch but the performance of the Indian pacemen, especially Irfan
Pathan, on the same wicket has shot that theory to pieces.
There's one more intriguing story doing the rounds. Sources close to
the Pakistan camp said that coach Javed Miandad lamented that his
bowlers were hampered by the fact that the ball was being carefully
checked every three or four overs and so, they were unable to do
anything! It is not known whether this was said at all or if said,
was said seriously but a lot of people here were discussing the
story.
Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid too is proving to be masterful at mindgames.
India's stand-in skipper calmly said that India would not be
overconfident --- that what was past is past and they were looking
forward to a new Test ahead. Yet, he also added that all India
needed to pile on the pressure was a good couple of sessions on the
first day. "We start even-stevens when we go into the match. But
we're one up and we have a good first day then
that will put pressure on Pakistan."
He was also very direct when asked what he thought made the
difference in the way Pakistan's pace battery failed and India's
young bowlers succeeded. "History teaches you that you have to
basically put the ball in the right place. It requires no magic or
rocket science to tell you that." It was an interesting use of
words, coming soon after Imran Khan castigated the Pakistan team's
performance (and Javed Miandad's) after the one-day
series loss, saying: "It doesn't require a rocket scientist to see
that Pakistan need a bowling coach (sic)".
Incidentally, Inzamam has hit out at former players who have torn
his team to shreds in columns. "I don't know what others are writing
in their columns but I do know that anyone who does not write
positively and constructively for Pakistan does not have Pakistan's
best interests at heart."
The match begins Monday on what appears a fairly firm, grassy pitch
that looks like it will aid seam bowlers with some bounce and carry.
Dravid says his team wants to stay focussed on the job at hand and
that they are not thinking too much about making even more history
by winning their first ever Test series on Pakistani soil.
India: Rahul Dravid (capt), Aakash Chopra, Virender Sehwag,
Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel, Anil
Kumble, Irfan Pathan, L Balaji, Murali Kartik, Ramesh Powar, Ajit
Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Mohd Kaif.
Pakistan (from): Inzamam-ul Haq (capt), Yasir Hameed, Taufiq
Umar, Imran Farhat, Yousuf Youhana, Asim Kamal, Abdul Razzak, Shoiab
Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Danesh Kaneria,
Misbah-ul Haq, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal, Imran Nazir.
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