By Saj
March 17 2004

2 amazing high scoring matches and the series is tied at 1-1, with 3 matches to play, at Peshawar and 2 in Lahore. Who would want to be a bowler on these pitches ? Sweaty palms, nervous biting of the already well-chewed fingernails, nervous glances at the television screen, dismissive shakes of the head, irritable arguments, were all the order of the day for the first 2 one dayers for the millions of Pakistani and Indian fans around the world.

To say the 2 first one dayers in Karachi and Rawalpindi were superb would be an understatement. The quality of the batting admittedly on very placid tracks was at times mind boggling and defied the standard batting coaching manuals. Good length, short of a length, overpitched, full tosses, yorkers it did not seem to matter to the batsman, they would get the full treatment irrespective of who the bowler was or how fast the delivery was.

Already the fans have witnessed some stupendous batting from the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar and Dravid for the tourists, whilst Yasir, Afridi, Yousuf, Inzamam and Abdul Razzaq have shone for the home team and my feeling is that this trend will continue, especially in the 2 matches at Lahore.

Peshawar, allegedly may offer something for the quicks, but I know for a fact I would rather be a batsman than a bowler in this one day series. Peshawar promises to be a pivotal game in this series with things all square at 1-1. If there is not already enough pressure on both teams, a defeat at Peshawar and the losing team will have the added pressure of having to win the last 2 matches to win the series.

In my opinion I thought Pakistan seemed much more at ease with themselves in match 2, a little more relaxed and playing their natural game, almost as if they were too pumped up for the first match. There is a fine line between being fired up, motivated and ready, against being overly fired up and the likes of Sami suffered in this respect.

India and Pakistan matches are obviously not for the faint hearted and this applies to the players as well as the fans. Unfortunately the likes of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Yasir Hameed and Murali Kartik found this out at Karachi and 2 out of these 3 found themselves watching the action from the players balcony, rather than given an opportunity to redeem themselves at Rawalpindi.

It is also refreshing to see that Inzaman ul Haq has finally given up on his theory that Pakistan can afford to go into one day matches with only 5 bowlers, and the man that Pakistan fans love or hate, Shahid Afridi was recalled to the team. Staying with the theme of the Pakistani captain, it is also worth noting that he seems much more animated in this series, actually making more of an effort to encourage dialogue with his team mates.

Both teams are evenly matched overall and it would be a fool who predicts the outcome of this 5 match series, but I think the Indians have probably been surprised with the quality of the Pakistani batting, however I do not think that the Pakistanis have had any surprises, given that they already knew that the opposition strength was in their batting, rather than their bowling. With Nehra, the Indian bowler who looks the best bet for taking top order wickets now injured, this further hands the initiative to the Pakistani top order. It will be interesting to see if the Indians opt to recall Karthik or give Pathan a chance in Peshawar. What also remains an issue for the Indian think tank is whether they can afford to drop a batsman and play with 5 front line bowlers, rather than allow their part timer, mix and match bowlers to come face to face against Inzamam and company.

Mohamed Sami once again proved, that when in form and in a good rhythm he is a superb asset for the Pakistan team and I believe his contribution in the remaining matches will be the key or Pakistan.

Although as mentioned already in this article, the pitches are very batsman friendly, I feel that the 3rd seamer position in one days for Pakistan is still an irritant. With the inexperienced Rana and Shabbir lacking match practice looking rather ordinary, I feel that a major opportunity was missed by the selectors to blood some youth perhaps in the Bangladesh series or the Zimbabwe tour.

Whatever the outcome, the remaining 3 matches promise to provide plenty of thrills, spills, and plenty of opportunity to debate !