Former cricketer and selection committee chairmanChandu Borde said the key to India's success during the forthcoming tourof Pakistan would lie on the complete fitness of their key bowlers.
Borde said the wickets in Pakistan would be similar tothe ones here but with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, leggie Anil Kumbleand left-arm seamers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra nursing injuries, there wouldbe some concern in the Indian camp before the important tour coming after a gapof 14 years.
But he said India can look up to their new crop of fastbowlers who proved their potential Down Under.
"The most heartening aspect of the Australian tourwas the emergence of two new seamers in Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji,who shouldered the responsibility after their seniors -- Zaheer, Nehra and AjitAgarkar -- were sidelined with injuries," Borde said.
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On the chances of the two teams,Borde said ultimately the game will be the winner.
"I really don't like to predict the outcome of thetour but I can tell one thing for sure that the biggest winner would be the gameitself as millions of people all over the world are eagerly looking forward to this tour," said Borde, the only Indian to have toured Pakistan as a player(1954-55) and manager (1989).
"The Indians are back from a morale-boosting tour of Australia, the topteam in the world. It is also an open secret that the Indians have a very strongbatting line-up which can be compared with the best in the business," saidBorde, who played in 55 Tests and scored 3061 runs at an average of 35.59.
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"On the other hand, Pakistan's batting is not soformidable as most of them are new but their bowling looks very impressivethough short on experience. I do not think the current crop of bowlers can becompared with the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis or Aquib Javed,"he said.
"The wickets, which will be slow and with lowbounce, will play an important role as well and the Indians, particularly RahulDravid and V.V.S. Laxman, who were in great form in Australia, would be verydifficult to dislodge.
On India's preparations, Borde felt the need for ashort duration camp.
"A short camp (one-week) would be very helpful asthe players can get used to the low bounce and slowness of the wickets.
"I know the players are exhausted after theAustralian tour but it is better to be prepared for the eventualities before avery important tour," he said.
Borde, however, was not impressed with the Pakistancrowds and said "The crowds over there are partisan. We find that kind ofcrowd even in India and once the tour kicks off and the Indians start doingwell, I think things will settle down".
As told to V. Veerakumar
PTI
