It is a make-or-break Test for Pakistan in Lahore.
They would like to maximize the potential of their pace battery which is the engine which drives them onthe cricket field. But I am not sure if Shoaib Akhtar is up to the task. He does notseem to be the same bowler who used to run through the battingline-ups of New Zealand or Australia in a matter of a fewballs.
He mentally looks very tired and does not seem to backhimself enough against this Indian line-up. He throws up hishands so often while bowling that it betrays a tormented soul.
In retrospect, I feel the toll of the one-day series has been immense onthe Pakistani bowlers. THe Indians were regularly picking up300-plus totals in the ODIs and Shoaib had more no-balls, wides and runs than wickets to show in his bowling column. We clearly have not seen the best of Shoaib in this series.
Pakistan might require a bowling coach but for the mistakes they are making you do not need an expert to point itout. They all know what wrongs they have been doing. I am alsonot sure if a bowling coach, in the middle of a series, couldbe such a big help.
With bowlers conceding near 700 runs, it is always atough task for batsmen -- even against Bangladesh, leave alonea strong unit like India. As a bowler, you feel liberated withsuch a bank of runs. You experiment, attack and in mostcases get the help from facing batsmen also who cannot helpbut being cautious.
The Indians consistently made early inroads in bothinnings in Multan and Irfan Pathan, who looks a match-winner,was the reason for it.
If you ask me, Virender Sehwag is the main difference inthe team of today from the ones we had in the past. He goesballast from the word go and helps immensely in rattling upthe bowlers. The bowlers can get him out but cannot keep himquiet. His attack of Saqlain Mushtaq on the first and second day was a piece of tactical brilliance.
Saqlain has been a force against India in the past andmight have been purposely held back in the ODIs to be let loose on the Indians in the Tests.
But Viru played him brilliantly,smashing him around the park and throwing the 'Saqlain Factor'out of the window -- possibly for the rest of the series. Hehas ensured the Pakistani attack can at best be onlyone-dimensional -- I cannot see them trusting a spinner withtheir attack for the rest of the series.
Viru's triple hundred is the stuff of a legend and it wasalways on the cards after he finished the first day on 228 notout. One believes such a score has not been seen from any Testbatsman on a single day in the last 54 years.
Sehwag said henever felt the Pakistani bowlers could get him out -- even we theviewers never felt the bowlers stood any chance againsthim.
Viru's triple is surely going to motivate the rest of theIndian batsmen further. Such feats tend to motivate the rest.It is not a competition but just a healthy spirit to matchyour fellow professionals. If a bowler takes five wickets, theone at the other end tries to emulate him. It would be thesame with the rest of the Indian batters.
Along with Viru, you cannot ignore Anil Kumble either. Hehas been a bowler I have admired for long and one who has beena great help from the other end. It is difficult to count howmany matches he has won for India.
When I started, Kumble appeared to be a bowler who wouldput 12 balls at one spot all the time. Now he has developed agoogly. This new armoury automatically slows up his deliveriesand injects doubts in the mind of a batsman.
I have always been very happy bowling alongside him forhe dries up the runs from one end and allows me to attack thebatsmen from the other. He has now bowled another perfectdelivery -- in the form of a son. Congrats to a fellow spinnerand an inspiration whose form in the last few matches has beennothing less than sensational.
Finally, it seems Pakistan would be expecting more than200 per cent from their captain Inzamam-ul Haq -- the onlybatsman who potentially has the talent to be a thorn inIndia's flesh. But if he keeps running between the wicketslike he did in Multan -- holding the bat in the wrong hand which stopped him from stretching -- he would cause his team'sown destruction.
PTI
