Peaceful Strokes

Pakistan won in 46 overs, not 43 overs......I have never seen a second-string team chase a target of over 300 against any Test team, in my life. Quite an amazing performance.....

whops. my bad. according to hellbound it wasn`t a day-nighter pakistan won. NOW that is impressive. :)

but the day-night dew observation still stands. pray hard during the toss :)

Romair:

Don`t be too impressed.

The second-string Pakistan win though good for building confidence of the youngesters does NOT augur well for the one-day series.

I think one should find out what the record is of Day-Night matches in Pakistan and particularly Lahore during this time of the season. The team batting second almost ALWAYS wins. Thus the team who wins the toss has ALWAYS opted to bat second (whereas Pakistan has usually felt that it`s at its best defending a total). It`s a no-brainer. The excessive evening dew reduces the ability of the bowler to do anything. And it takes the whole thrill out of the game. It was precisely because of the dew factor that a mediocre batsman like Ijaz Ahmed scored that `brilliant` 134 not out to snatch victory from jaws of defeat. Sad that the toss will very likely determine the course of the game.

There are three day-night ODI`s- two in Lahore.

1There home record against visiting....
2.Lets the music begin.

...hairaaN huN rouN dil ko ke peetuN jigar ko maiN...

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The pressure to win is greater on India and this series represents the best opportunity in years, nay decades. During the 90`s, with Wasim and Waqar at their peak, Pakistan was always in the top 3 in world cricket. Had there been greater team unity and fewer scandals, the results would have been even better. However, the 2002 series against Australia clearly highlighted the fragile nature of Pakistan`s aging, disunited and technically-deficient team. They have improved since then, but are ill-equipped to match India`s batting powerhouse.

Also, its been nearly 2 decades since India last won an overseas series. Pakistan had an overseas series victory just 2 months ago in NZ. It has consistently won tests and series in India, while the latter has not won a single test in Pakistan. India did far better in Australia than any other touring team in the last 4-5 years. While Warne and McGrath were absent and Gillispie and Lee did not play the full series and there were no tests in Perth, India performed well and has 5 batsmen who can turn the fortunes of a match.

India will probably win 1 test match and chalk its first series victory in nearly 2 decades, with Pakistan`s batsmen committing hara kiri outside the off stump. Nehra will be instrumental in this victory, and his rediscovered rhythum will expose Pakistan`s weakness in the face of displinced medium paced bowling. Saqlain is clearly not in the right frame of mind and barring Shoab, no other bowler including Sami, poses a significant threat. The BJP could not have chosen a better time to renew cricketing ties with Pakistan.

As for Pakistan, a test series loss at home (more the norm in the last 5 years) will be a minor cost and a passing matter, as opposed to enhancing the potential for peace with India. Its politicians and institutions of power, despite their infinite mischief, have not jingoistically linked national glory to a game of cricket. The U-19 team has done quite well and might just provide the Pakistan senior team with the players to repeat their glory days of the 90`s in the next 2-3 years.

India did NOT lose to a ``third rate Paksitani bowling attack.`` They lost to a FIRST RATE batting performance. But while this outcome may affect the teams psychologically and in the public consciousness (I think the Indian`s may have already lost the edge with the bookies), it shouldn`t be lost on anyone that, quite literally, India lost the match to the Pakistan OPENERS, who scored 127 in about 9 overs. From then on in, it was easy pickings-- requiring under 5 RPO with 9 wickets in hand. Some days acts of bravado such as dislplayed by Imran Nazir and Taufeeq Umar just come off, and we are treated to shotmaking at its best. More often than not, though, lady luck isn`t so co-operative, and we have outcomes as those witnessed a year and 11 days ago.

I wouldn`t put much money on either team at the moment. India`s own batting line-up is probably as good as the one of the late 70s, and you`d be really stupid to bet against it!

Some predictions..way to go dudes...if you guys went into betting on matches...you`ll probably be broke in less time than shahid afridi coming in to bat and going back to the pavillion again.I mean how do the chowk walas predict a test series win for india?...they havent been able to win a test series against zimbabwe in zimbabwe...what makes you think they are somehow going to achieve that feat here? and someone was suggesting Nehra would be instrumental in Pakistans downfall in the tests....yea right....like Irfan Pathan was going to be the next Wasim Akram...we all saw what happened in the warm up match...so lets all keep our hopes up...Test and ODI...both Pakistans way..InshaAllah.

Pakistan won; one battle does not win the war and test of Pakistan lies in their performance, which does not inspire confidence. Pakistan is the only team in international cricket, (though India is close rival) which is capable of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Ciao

I feel the major difference will be in the attitudes of the key players and foolhardy attitude of showmanship performers like Afridi, Shoaib and Nazir. These players will have to keep their heads smaller than the game to produce consistent performances.

The corridor of uncertainity will remain a real test with India using three left arm seamers. Just recollect how Nehra teased the Pakistani players in the World Cup.

Despite boasting slow wickets, our performance against spinners of late has been pathetic. Even a mediocre like Stuart McGill, knocked the hell out of us. At Karachi, our players made a demon out of Giles. Right now we boast no world class spin bowler. Saqlain is not in the right frame.

Shuffling before the wicket and moving on the backfoot to low balls will produce many a LBW decisions and the coach ought to be worried about it. Both Inzi and Yousaf will be vulnerable to both factors early in the innings.

Saqlain somehow has lost his rhythm. Bowling with success to mediocre county batsmen in England on a different line and lenght has reduced his effectiveness. He had perhaps needed dedicated coaching to unlearn the county cricket and rediscover his old form, but alas!.

Though Shoaib will remain lethal in patches and Sami comme ci comme ca, the most teasing ones will be Shabbir and Umer Gul. On home wickets, Razzaqs over pitched ball hit for a six in Australia can become deadly.

It is most dangerous that India has gone through the dip in the very first match. They will need seaming wickets to go down again. Ours are equally bad on that. So where are our strenghts? I am sure someone must have thought of it. I am not so sure.

The best indian bowler for dust bowling is Nehra. He can do accurate bowling in 1-day, but he needs to start eating more mutton. Else he will get injured. Zaheer and Irfan are ok but they need to get some pointers from Sohaib and start chucking a little more. And offcourse Sachin needs to be more careful with Buckners finger than Saqlains. Overall, Indian team needs to focus on good Pakistani mutton, and treat the outing professionally to win. If they win, they should get Salman Khan out from his court-order and have him run aroung the ground with his shirt off (Ganguly will have a rib-cast from one of Sohaibs chucks.) And that chubby-cheeks wicket-keeper needs to beware of the friendly Pathans from Peshawar. Inzy is going to lose some serious weight due to the stress.

Overall, this mach is economical boon to Pakistans treasury.. 21 M from TV, and 15M from not having to shoot off another Shaheen/Ghoury for 40 days.

As for Tendulkar, I have never really liked him as a batsman. The guy is much like Gavasker in the sense that he has built up a great personal record, without really playing much role in saving india from defeats. Most of the matches where he scored centuries ended up in draw. His centuries never helped india win or saved it from defeat.

Gavasker too was a master batsman in scoring on slllooooooowww indian pitches. Just look at where he scored most of his centuries.

As for Pakistan, more than the glamourous Shoib Akhtar, it would be Muhammad Sami who could play a crucial role.

Pakistan`s batting line-up is the most un-predictable in the entire world. And all bets are off when it comes to that.

re:#8 by johnny_bravvo
Warm up match is just that: a warm up match. I predict India will kick Pak`s A$$ in 1 day matches. I am not so sure about the test matches as we do not have quality bowlers.
But still the matches are being played in Pak on home turf in front of a partisan crowd. Too much security can also have a psychological effect on the Indian team. It is possible, as i said in my last post, Pakis may be able to savour victory against India on the cricket field, something they could never do on a battlefield for 50 years.
Sridhar

re:#5 by qambar
Pak won test matches and series in Pak against India because they played with 13 players while India had only 12. I am including the Empire here who played for Pakistan. If you do not believe me, read what Maninder Singh had to say. While bowling, he had the test batsman plumb LBW but Shaukat Rana turned his appeal down and advised him to concentrate on bowling the batsman out. ``You are not going to get anywhere with me with LBW appeal`` were his words of wisdom.
What binds the Paki team is intense rivalry and hatred of India and Indians. These things are inculcated from childhood. As i have said before, cricket is perhaps the only sport where Pak can hope to defeat India (India today is way better than Pak in Hockey).
Sridhar

A little statistical analysis:

Since India hasn’t toured Pakistan for tests in a long time it’s hard to look at trends. One interesting study is to see how India has performed since 2000 on the road against strong opposition and how Pakistan has performed since 2000 against the same opposition.

Data sample:
Lets choose Australia and South Africa to represent the ‘strong opposition’. Also lets consider Pakistan’s series against Australia to be a ‘home’ series for Pakistan for obvious reasons.

Here’s how they fair:

Batting Average:
India = 39.07
Pak BA = 27.52

Bowling Average:
India BO = 50.6
Pak BO = 33.3

Win/Loss Ratio:
India = 33%
Pak = 33%

Conclusions:
In high-pressure situations, India on the road and Pakistan at home compare thus:

India bats a little bit better than Pakistan.
Pakistan bowls a whole lot better than India.
In producing victories both India and Pakistan are mediocre.

The stats bear out what we all already know.


In an India-Pakistan game however, the trends go completely out the window. This series is a complete crapshoot. You would be a doddering fool or fearless fanatic to bet on this one.

We give a slight edge to Pakistan in both the Test and the ODIs.




Hi, I am Right Impression and this is my brother Left Impression, and we approve of this message.

May the best team win – more than just cricket depends on this cliché

---

Najam Sethi`s Editorial


India’s cricket tour of Pakistan means many things to many people. It means India will play Pakistan in Pakistan after nearly a decade and a half. That’s a record of sorts. It means that India is in with its best ever chance to win a One-Day and/or Test series against Pakistan in Pakistan since this is arguably its best team ever. If that happens, that will be a record too. But if it doesn’t, it will still be a record for Pakistan to retain its unbeatable scorecard against India in Pakistan. Then there are bound to be record crowds, record ticket sales, record media relays and record PCB revenues. A record number of Indians, including journalists, will cross the border by foot, rail and air. At the end of the day, many more records are bound to be broken on the ground, there is such an abundance of talent in the Indian teamsters and so much grit in the Pakistani youngsters.

But this tour is not just about cricket and sport. It is a metaphor for high politics as only the establishments of Pakistan and India can contrive despite themselves. It follows in the wake of nuclear rattling by both not so long ago. It reflects the tactical and strategic compulsions of the hardest of hardliners on both sides. It opens the floodgates to unprecedented people-to-people contacts and bonhomie. And it posits the greatest threat to the Indo-Pak peace process launched only a short while ago.

Everyone in Pakistan wanted this series to go ahead. We are crazy about cricket in general but we are insane about Indo-Pak cricket. However, the Pakistani establishment desperately wants to exploit the occasion to relay a critical message across the world’s television screens: come one, come all, this is a safe and sporting country. Pakistan’s image has taken a nasty battering in recent years. We are trying to beat the image back into shape. So we have marshaled the best security in the world – fit for a president on the hit list of Al-Qaeda, no less – to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

On the Indian side, too, the passion among the people is much the same: let’s play – the game. But serious doubts have been expressed by well-meaning persons about two risky aspects of a tour on the eve of the Indian elections. What if India should lose to Pakistan and the defeat have an adverse impact on the BJP’s electoral prospects? What if an act of terrorism should lead to a loss of Indian lives and/or a midway cancellation of the tour, derailing the peace dialogue so painstakingly cobbled by both sides recently? In the event, however, India’s prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has crossed the Rubicon. Has he risked his all or nothing on a cricket series with the old enemy?

It would be a mistake to imagine that all will go well as hoped or planned. Indeed, going by the past, the chances are that the odd bomb or two will go off somewhere or the other – just as one did in Rawalpindi only three days before the match. The chances are the crowds will riot in some stadium stand or the other. The chances are the police will lay into the crowds somewhere or the other. The chances are that cricketing tempers will fly over some umpiring decision or the other. The chances are that some match will be called off for a short or long time while the situation is brought under control. The chances are that conspiracy theories about match-fixing and team selection will still do the rounds. In other words, the chances are that if anything can conceivably go wrong it might actually go wrong. Does this then mean that the cricket tour should never have been organised at this time and that Mr Vajpayee’s decision is bound to rebound on him?

No. Mr Vajpayee seems to have realised two major Indian truths. One: if the BJP is to consolidate its position as the other mainstream national party, it must dilute its overt Hindu stance and woo a slice of the Muslims of India into its fold. There is, after all, one nation in India, not two. Therefore the peace dividend with Muslim Pakistan is as critical to his national reckoning in the future – the feel good factor – as the fearful communal war-mongering was in the past.

Two: if terrorism in Kashmir can be factored into the Indo-Pak confidence building process as a potentially destabilising factor to contend with, there is no reason why terrorism in Pakistan cannot be factored into the same equation without derailing the process. In other words, despite the small print in the contract brandished by the PCB and BCCI about calling off the tour under certain conditions, there is a lot at stake for both countries in concluding this series without being swayed by certain provocations.

Wonderful. May the best team win. More than just cricket depends on this old cliché.