HOMEPAGE I FUTURE STARS I CRICKET TRIVIAS I FORUM I  GUESTBOOK I 

Looking Ahead : A Limelight on Lahore

                          A preview for the 4th ODI by Venkat

     After its journey to the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, the India-Pakistan cricket circus heads to Punjabistan, and to one of its important destinations - Lahore. India, yet again were overhauled by a good all-round performance by the Pakistanis, but as the coach John Wright quotes "the series is far from over by any stretch of imagination".

     Luck has indeed been denied to Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly by the coin, but having said that, the team has not yet performed as per the expectations of its fans. At Peshawar, I guess the psyche of the seamer-friendly conditions was attached firmly in the minds of the batsmen as they somehow struggled to come to terms with the Pakistani pace battery. Some irresponsible strokes by senior players like Sehwag, Ganguly and Dravid put the brakes on the Indian scoring at crucial intervals and it was left to the tail to do the batsmen's job. Having said that, the wicket at Lahore seems to be a belter, reverting back to the cricketing mayhem witnessed at Rawalpindi and Karachi. But, its still left to see if the Peshawar wicket has left back some mental scars on the minds of the Indian batsmen. I guess, Laxman has lost the fluency we associate with him and there is a need for a mandatory change at no. 3, where I guess Saurav or Hemang could be a better option.

India's bowling did all it could to fight the game at Peshawar. Zaheer Khan still seems to be lacking match fitness as he looks anything but threatening to the Pakistani batsmen. Irfan Pathan is a positive to take from Peshawar, where he swung the ball at decent pace and accounted for 3 good Pakistani wickets. But, the man who impressed many was Lakshmipathy Balaji, with his impeccable line and length. I guess they just got to stick to the basics and allow the batters to make mistakes, which they didn't manage to do in any of the ODIs. I guess Saurav's limited faith in the inexperience of Ramesh Powar looks inexplicable. Its twice that he's not given his "premier" spinner a bowl of his full quota of 10 overs. I guess he has to sort that out as soon as possible as we need someone to take control in the middle overs of the Pakistani batting. The Indian bowling seems to be on the improving curve, but nowhere near where it should have been by now.

Fielding, has been a worry for India since the Karachi ODI. Saurav Ganguly has taken over from where Nehra had left. He seems to be the weak link in the Indian fielding unit. That's one reason I feel Laxman should be replaced by Badani, who is a brilliant fielder. Saurav also has to improve upon his captaincy in terms of his field placings, where i feel he was over attacking and gave too many unnecessary runs to Yasir Hameed at Peshawar. I guess, if India are anywhere near their best fielding prowess that they have been known for since 2 years, it would be tougher times for the Pakistani batsmen. So, India's fielding has to be RIGHT ON THE MONEY.

India is playing a very very very important match on Sunday...which in terms would be a "MUST WIN" encounter. I repeat what Wright said about the series, that its not yet over, but if India blow the trumpet again, its history. So I guess, they are not just playing for the Samsung Cup today, but for survival, the fans, and a win that would set the series on a different tone.