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Looking Ahead: Pakistan in India 2004-05: 4th ODI
at Ahmedabad |
Preview by Venkat
Ananth
 Disappointment
was in the air, as India could not break their
infamous jinx at Jamshedpur, while Pakistan just
could not do any wrong on Saturday as they
crushed India by a huge margin. The action in
the cricketing map now travels westwards to
Ahmedabad, where the fourth ODI between India
and Pakistan will be staged. The venue was in
the news for all reasons even before the series
began and it is being looked at as a one-off
game by the Pakistanis, who portrayed great
reluctance to play at Ahmedabad. Will the
off-the field events surrounding this ground
affect their performance? Cricketfundas.com
gives its readers an exclusive preview to the
fourth ODI to be played between India and
Pakistan at Ahmedabad.
Pitch: If reports are to be believed, the
pitch at the Motera stadium will promise another
"run-riot". The curator's word on the wicket
seems to be that this wicket is a good "one-day
wicket", which essentially goes on to say that
batsmen will plunder runs at their will, while
the bowlers will be left punished. The wicket is
also expected to take some turn, albeit slow, in
the second innings and could slow down towards
the end of the game. Besides the wicket, the
extreme temperatures will yet again test he
resoluteness of the players and it will be
interesting to see if the amount of travel
catches up with them. The Indian track record at
the Motera is pretty impressive (5 wins from 7
games) and they will be hoping to repeat their
success here, especially after the Jamshedpur
Jolt. The captain who wins the toss here,
usually bats first and going by the curator's
word, a score of 270 will be par on this wicket.
India: Call
it indiscipline, complacency or over-confidence
- these are some factors other than cricket,
that resulted in the loss of the Indians at
Jamshedpur. Having said that, the wake cup call
from their opponents couldn't have come at a
better time and has given them plenty to think
about. The batting was one of the main factors
that let India down on Saturday, but one would
call it an off-day for them. The degrees of
responsibility the batsmen have to shoulder have
risen, as the series has reached its business
end and its time the seniors stand up and be
counted. The Pakistanis have found a weak link
in the batting order with Saurav and Sachin as
they are giving away their wickets for hardly
anything, and the time has come for them to show
the Pakistanis their true worth. The
middle-order also needs to chip with some more
meaningful contributions and if that happens, a
bulky score is on the cards. As far as bowling
is concerned, the Indians might have to alter
their combination, as going in with 3 bowlers
with same traits (Pathan, Zaheer and Nehra)
seems meaningless. With a near possibility of
Balaji getting the all clear to play the game,
we could just see him team up with Zaheer Khan
and Ashish Nehra. Harbhajan Singh, has looked
off-colour in the previous two matches and there
is no bigger occasion for the offie to
contribute with a good spell. India will have to
forget the Jamshedpur fiasco and consider it as
a bad day in the office and move on with the
momentum of the series. The series has offered
yet another chance to the Indians to wrap it up,
or at least not lose it and it will be
interesting to see if the Indians make full use
of this opportunity in hand.
Pakistan:
Pakistan came up with a truly inspirational win
against the hosts on Saturday, which for sure
has nullified all the advantage the Indians
carried from both Vizag and Kochi. Now, as they
have succeeded in bouncing themselves into
contention, this game for Pakistan will
basically define their position in this series.
The Pakistani batting looks perhaps at its
strongest after the performance at Jamshedpur.
Salman Butt looks in great batting touch and
Pakistan will be encouraged by the fact that
Shaoib Malik has got himself some runs after two
successive failures. The most important aspect
of this match will be determined by how well the
Pakistani middle order plays. Inzamam is in good
stroking form, albeit he is short of runs and it
will also be interesting to see if Younis Khan
makes any significant contributions with respect
to his form with the bat. Pakistan's bowling,
has indeed been strengthened by Rana Naved's
performance with the ball and their success
depended on picking early wickets. How quickly
they can send Sehwag back to the hut, will also
determine the result for Pakistanis. Mohammad
Sami and Rana Naved are in good rhythm and it
will be interesting to see how much purchase
Danish Kaneria gets from the surface. All in
all, yet another of those must-win games for
Pakistan, and if Pakistan have any intentions of
taking home the Pepsi Cup, this game will prove
decisive in that regard.
Most of the matches in this series have by and
large been adjudicated before a ball was bowled,
and the winning formula for the skippers seems
to be win the toss, bat first, runs on the board
and that's it. There has been no opportunity to
witness any nerve wreckers, and a situation for
this is ideally made for one, and we hope that
the game at Ahmedabad provides a certainly more
balanced contest between the ball and the bat,
and quash the belief that the team that has won
the toss, wins the game. Security will be one of
the prime concerns for the officials and one
hopes that this game passes by without any
incidents of serious magnitude.
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