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By B.V.Swagath, published on Jan 12, 2006

Out in the bitter cold conditions of Lahore with temperatures reaching as low as 16 degrees Centigrade, all the heat that can be expected to be generated would be right in the middle of the Gaddafi Stadium. The first Test match between Pakistan and India gets underway on Friday on a green, hard and bouncy track and the first hour could give us all a sneak peek of what to expect on this tour. Runs might have been scored easily at the Bagh-e-Jinnah ground in the same city by the Indians during their 3-day warm up game but Test Match Cricket at the Gaddafi Stadium could be a different ball game completely.

Rahul Dravid is leading India for the first time in a full Test Match Series overseas but his counterpart Inzamam-ul-Haq is sitting pretty after thrashing the much hyped England Side 2-0. Dravid would be tested and Chappell’s experiments would be crucial as the Indian team takes on a much stronger side in Pakistan than a demoralized side in Sri Lanka. Having said that, the pressure will be more on Inzamam and his boys just because they are going to play in front of their home crowd and they just can’t get away with any sloppy cricket.

Two players for me look to be the most dangerous on either side and if they click reasonably well for their respective teams, then the series would be controlled by one of the teams. And from the Indian Side, it has got to be Virender Sehwag because he is the man who sets the tone for his team; he is the man who can make mockery of pace batteries and the brand new red cherry to lose its shine with his thundering drives in quick time. When everyone expects that the pace attack would thrive on the damp, seaming, pacy wicket conditions, there comes a man who just thinks about putting bat to ball and he’s no blind hitter mind you, he has his own plans of building up a big score in his own style. He has scored runs everywhere and against the best bowlers in the world. But Viru hasn’t been at his dangerous best of late and hasn’t produced his magical knocks recently but who knows this could be the series he was reserving his best! India certainly need to think like that simply because if Sehwag can get going then India does have a middle order which can ride on the start and they have the run accumulators to make the tall scores.

Pakistan have to be carried on by Shoaib Akthar with the ball, if he can land the ball consistently on the right spots, he can prove to be deadly successful. The last home series against India, he just couldn’t do that and his short and wide length deliveries were smacked for more than hundred runs by Virender Sehwag. But Shoaib has been a transformed and a better disciplined bowler now that he is under Bob Woolmer. He had won the series for Pakistan against the visiting England team with a clever mix of red hot express deliveries and his brand of slower deliveries foxing the batsmen on most occasions. His yorkers and his late inswingers could well skittle a batting line up in just a short bowling spell.

Apart from these two characters, there are few players, who have their heads on their shoulders and have the guts and skill to take their sides out of any panic situation. India could count on Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman to guide them in the middle of their innings and Pakistan are in the safe hands of the trio Mohammad Yousuf, skipper Inzamam and his deputy Younis Khan. All these players can convert their starts into big ones and it’s therefore crucial to get them out early. The rest of the batsmen on either side have the tendency of throwing it away after making good starts to their innings. All rounders Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan and Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik can definitely be expected to have a significant influence in the batting.

In the bowling department, India has Irfan Pathan, who relies on swing in the air and if there is nothing, he often looks very pedestrian. It’s important that he gets his inswingers to the right handers and the natural curve in to the left handers going throughout. He also needs to bend his back and generate pace whenever he doesn’t get any natural movement in the air. His support could come from Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan or Rudra Pratap Singh. Zaheer Khan has been at his ferocious best in the Domestic Circuit after being ignored by the Selectors during the home series. He sure must be hungry to prove what he is now at the highest level. Agarkar is starting to make telling contributions to the team and he cannot be counted away. Rudra Pratap Singh might be kept for the One Dayers to take care of the explosive Afridi in most probability – a role that Ashish Nehra had performed previously. One doubts whether the Indians would be going with both their champion spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan or just play one of them. For me, Anil Kumble is a better choice and I have a feeling that Harbhajan might be more attacked by the Pakistani batsmen more than Kumble. The Indian bowlers however have to adapt as quickly as possible with the Kookaburra balls!

Pakistan as reports suggest are going with three fast bowlers Shoaib Akthar, Mohammad Sami and Naved-ul-Hasan, all of them being quick both in the air and as well as off the track. Abdul Razzaq would add up as an additional option. Naved-ul-Hasan could be the surprise pick to deliver as he has the ability to move the ball in the air and the skill of inducing the batsmen into a false stroke. Leggie Danish Kaneria is maturing as a spinner and he may control one end with his variations but I doubt if he can run through the Indian batting – something which Muralitharan could but not before they were enough runs on the board.

Selection problems are with the visitors – whom to include and whom to exclude right at the top. Wasim Jaffer has come into the team following his consistent scores in the Domestic Scene and the promising Gambhir not scoring well enough after his sparkling century against the Lankans in the ODIs. But the big problem would be a toss up between Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly, the former skipper. Yuvraj has played vital innings in the Sri Lankan Test Series and Sourav had battled hard to make two decent scores in the Delhi Test, but was dropped from the side. Ganguly played gutsy knocks in the Ranji Trophy to stake claim in the Indian middle order. But for me, Yuvraj has to edge out Ganguly because of his knock of 77* in the Delhi Test and then a crucial knock of 75 in the Ahmedabad Test. The blame has to be on Sourav for getting out the way he did to Muralitharan after working hard to get to a solid score of 39.

Time to put an end to all the guess work and backs to the chairs and with fingers crossed watch the 1st Test Match at Lahore to unfold on Friday!

Pakistan Squad : Salman Butt, Imran Farhat , Younis Khan (Vice Captain), Inzamam Ul Haq (Captain), Mohammad Yousuf , Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (Wicket Keeper), Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Naved ul Hasan, Danish Kaneria, Arshad Khan, Mohammad Asif

Indian Squad : Rahul Dravid (Captain), Virender Sehwag (Vice Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S.Laxman, Yuvraj Singh,  Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Wicket Keeper), Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh
 

 

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