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Looking Ahead: Pakistan in India 2004-05: 2nd ODI
at Vishakapatnam |
A Preview by
Venkat Ananth
 After witnessing a rather one-sided contest at
Kochi, where Pakistan could not beat both India
and the Kerala heat, the India-Pakistan cricket
circus changes coasts and moves eastwards to the
south-eastern port city of Vishakapatnam. This
game to be played in Vizag will be the first in
four years, with the last game played between
India and Australia in 2001. The importance of
this game need not be reiterated, as Pakistan
will look to have their number on the board,
while India will try their best to sway away the
pendulum of the series in their favour.
Cricketfundas.com presents its readers with an
exclusive preview of the 2nd Pepsi Cup ODI
between India and Pakistan at Vishakhapatnam.
Pitch:
The toss proved to be one of
the factors that influenced an Indian win and it
will be of paramount importance for the captain
winning the toss to bat first as run on the
board can always work in the team's favour
during the second half of the match. Yet again,
the fitness levels of the men on the field will
be put to a real test and battling the
conditions may just prove to be the deciding
factor in this game at Vizag. For
number-crunchers, India have won 2 of their 3
games, while Pakistan have featured in a 12-run
loss to Sri Lanka in 1999 at Vizag.
India:
Having won over their opponents convincingly at
Kochi, the Indians will be brimming with
confidence. John Wright clearly highlighted the
first two matches as important, and having given
their all in the game at Kochi, the Vizag game
yet again demands a 101% effort from the
Indians. It almost seems that a certain Virender
Sehwag is taking the opposition in his own
hands. His century at Kochi comes at no better
time for both him and the team, as the batting
looks towards boosting their confidence levels.
Apart from Sehwag, Rahul Dravid looks in fine
batting touch, having scored his century. But,
it will be extremely important for the other
batsmen to get their contributions going by
gaining form, which could prove useful for the
matches ahead. In the bowling department, one
feels that the Team Management will stick with
the 3 pacers and 1 spinner combination, as it
proved to be successful at Kochi. All three
pacemen did a considerably good job at Kochi and
the Indian team will be pinning its hopes on the
bowlers to do it again. India clearly looked the
better side when it came to all departments of
the game and more importantly doing the small
things correctly - running between the wickets
and catching. But things can change in no-time,
especially in an India Vs Pakistan series and
this only sends warning signals for the Men in
Blue to guard against complacency of any sorts.
Pakistan:
Pakistan
have themselves to blame for finishing second
best to India at Kochi. Their batting did not
look in-sync and they paid a heavy price for
complacency. But having said that, this
Pakistani team under Inzamam has shown us time
and again that they cannot be written off. Vizag
will be a new day and a new game for them, and
this time they will be hoping to open their
account in the series too. The batting at Kochi
got off to a good start and all of a sudden
collapsed. We could see Shahid Afridi opening
the batting along with Salman Butt, with Kamran
Akmal going down to the normal no. 7 position.
The probability of Younis Khan getting fit is
also getting lesser by the minute. The senior
players like skipper Inzamam and Youhanna will
certainly be expected to play the game with
greater levels of responsibility, compared to
what they did at Kochi. In the words of Rameez
Raja, the Pakistan bowling was "one-dimensional"
and lacked anything different from what was on
show. It will be interesting to see if Pakistan
try and change things around in their bowling
department for this game. The game at Kochi,
opened up a weak link in the Pakistani team -
their catching. Pakistan have to improve their
catching skills if they have to create moments
that can possibly change games in their favour.
"Write us off at your own peril" will be the
message given by Inzy to the Indians, and it
will be a sheer test of their resolve if they
can in reality bounce back from the first punch
delivered to them by the Indians. Probably,
Vizag will have a solution to their problems !
India go into this game, carrying all the
confidence and advantage from Kochi. But
Pakistan would have that if at all they needed
to correct themselves and be back on track, it
was at Vishakhapatnam. It would be yet another
situation, as the possibility of the sun
becoming a major obstacle in the outcome of the
game increases. For India, it will be crucial to
have this in their bag to try and go for the
kill in the next few games and for Pakistan, it
will be a matter of putting their first foot of
contention in the series.
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