Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq may be banking on the ”passion and enthusiasm” of his young team to tame India in their own backyard, but he requires more than just that to taste success on the arduous tour.
India had not lost at home in four years until Australia ruined their impressive record last season with a 2-1 victory in a four-match contest to clinch their first Test series here since 1969.
Pakistan are not as resourceful as world champions Australia, who have tremendous depth in batting and bowling. The Australians’ mental strength to cope with pressure always helped them wriggle out of tight situations.
In contrast, Inzamam is leading a team which appears short on bowling experience, especially after the withdrawal of premier fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar due to a hamstring injury.
”The team which plays with more passion and enthusiasm will have a definite advantage in this series and I’ve a young team which is full of these,” said Inzamam, whose side will play three Tests and six one-day internationals during the 50-day tour.
But the Pakistani skipper’s major worry will be containing the Indian batsmen who have earned worldwide fame for occupying the crease for long periods on low, slow home pitches.
The Indian batting order wears a formidable look, with hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag keen to repeat last year’s awesome performance in Pakistan where he became the first Indian to hit a Test triple-century and helped India to a 2-1 win.
There will be no respite for the inexperienced Pakistani attack as Rahul Dravid, nicknamed the ‘Wall’ for his rock-like defence, Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Sourav Ganguly and Venkatsai Laxman follow in the order.
Tendulkar, who is one three-figure knock away from breaking compatriot Sunil Gavaskar’s world record of 34 Test centuries, is hungry as ever to prove nothing is wrong with his form and fitness after recovering from a tennis elbow injury.
A team requires a bowling attack like Australia’s to rattle India at home, but Pakistan do not appear to fall into that category.
When Pakistan toured India in 1999 and won two of the three Tests, they had skillful pacemen in Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
Both were capable of seriously testing the Indian batsmen even on slow pitches.
Supporting the duo was Akhtar, whose thunderbolts helped the tourists clinch the Calcutta Test. Then there was off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who grabbed four successive hauls of five wickets to keep unrelenting pressure on the Indian batsmen.
Inzaman has conceded that his team will miss the services of Akhtar.
”He’s our strike bowler. He can be dangerous for the opposition and an asset for us only if he is fit, but unfortunately he is not,” he said.
Fortunately, India captain Sourav Ganguly is not in the same boat as he has the luxury of leading a full-strength side.
Fast bowlers Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra and Laxmipathy Balaji, who were plagued with injuries in recent series, have regained fitness and presented their captain with an embarrassment of riches.
All of them may not figure in the playing eleven as spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are proven match-winners on home pitches.
India appear to have an edge in both batting and bowling departments and it is only a dramatic reversal in form that can prevent them from asserting their supremacy in the Test series starting at Mohali on March 8. – Sapa-AFP