India Hold Upper Hand

The Indo-Pak Friendship Series, locked at 1-1, is setup for a grand finale.

The pressure levels on the players will be immense, andthis is where experience counts. India has the upper hand here, and they will behighly motivated to win a Test series abroad. The team theme for this series hasbeen "Playing with Passion for Pride". If they do that in this match,we can expect Saurav Ganguly to be the man holding aloft the Samsung Cup at theend of this match.

We are in for a fascinating game of cricket!

I have no doubt the Indian team will be trying toremember the reasons which brought it success in the past rather than dwell onthe loss at Lahore. This team is mentally very strong, and it will be going intothe Rawalpindi Test thinking about nothing else but a win. If this team plays toits potential, it is capable of beating any team in the world.

Both teams have selection worries. While Pakistan islooking for a replacement bowler for the injured hero of the second Test, UmarGul, India has a problem of plenty. With Ganguly's return from injury, one ofthe six batsmen will have to make way. Yuvraj Singh has done wonderfully well tomerit selection. It therefore looks like Aakash Chopra will be unfortunatelysitting this one out. He has done well at the top of the order with VirenderSehwag in Australia, and he will still figure in the team's plans for thefuture.

It is good to see competition for the batting spots in the team. It will bringout the best from all players and keep them on their toes. In the bowlingdepartment, while Irfan Pathan, L. Balaji and Anil Kumble pick themselves, itwill be interesting to see whether Ashish Nehra comes in for Ajit Agarkar. I amsure the team management will select the best available 11 for the match, togive the team every chance of clinching the series.

All decisions in this Test must be made after assessingthe prevailing conditions rather than carry the cross of the last match. If theIndians feel they must bat first if they win the toss in Pindi, that is exactlywhat they must do. They have to shut out whatever the media, ex-cricketers orcommentators are advocating and take the road they believe is the right one.There is a lot of speculation about the state of the pitch, and the Indian teamwill do well to ignore this and take it as it comes. We have the team to win inall conditions, and that is all that matters.

India's strength is it's batting, and if Yuvraj andSehwag open the innings, we are in for a treat of explosive batting. The key tosuccess will be for them to see off the new ball, and remain unseparated atlunch. They can wrest the initiative away from Pakistan, and put them on theback foot. For that, however, they will have to blend caution with aggression.

Rahul Dravid is due for runs after failing in the first two Tests. He got a lotof runs in the ODI series, and has been the backbone of the batting line-up. Itis also unwise to believe that Sachin Tendulkar or V.V.S. Laxman could beworried about their form.

Tendulkar scored a century in the ODI's and neverlooked like getting out during his 194 in the Multan Test. I do not think hewould lose any sleep over the failures in Lahore. The same goes for Laxman. Itis laughable when people suggest that he only seems to score against Australia.If a batsman scores against the best side in the world, it should be a matter ofjoy rather than one of worry. Only recently, he scored an all important one-dayhundred against Pakistan when it mattered most. Ganguly's return adds morestrength to the batting line-up, and also aggression on the field. India'sbatting line-up is in good form, and far more experienced than their opponents.

The Pakistani batting has done reasonably well, withthe youngsters like Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed supporting Yousuf Youhana andInzamam-ul Haq. However, this is a crunch match, and the pressure will tell.They collapsed under pressure in the last ODI game in Lahore, and Pakistan lackthe depth of experience in their batting line-up.

In the bowling department, Pathan, Balaji and Kumble have done very well forIndia. The Pakistani batsmen gave the impression in Lahore that they just didnot want Kumble to make inroads. They played with utmost caution against Kumbleand took their chances against the others.

Kumble is nine wickets short of a major milestone of400 Test wickets. The competitor that he is, he will be eager to scale the peakin this match! Both Nehra and Agarkar are experienced bowlers, and whoever ispicked will add to our bowling strength. If our batsmen put up a good total, theIndian bowlers can exert pressure from both ends, and can win the match for usby picking 20 wickets.

Pakistan's bowling attack suddenly looks a bit weak.There was a lot of talk before the series began that this would be a battlebetween India's batting and Pakistan's bowling. However, we now have a situationwhere Umar Gul is not playing, and perhaps even Mohammad Sami may not play dueto injury.

This will be a major blow for Pakistan and will put alot of pressure on Shoaib Akhtar, who is not in the best of form himself.India's bowling line-up for this match looks just as good as, if not better thanthe Pakistani attack.

This match is the decider, and it rarely gets biggerthan this.

PTI