The Hindu : Pakistan bowlers must deliver

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 28, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Pakistan bowlers must deliver

MOIN KHAN

Like the intense battle in the one-day series, I expect another tight finish in the three-Test series. The team that grabs its opportunities at the right time will come out the winner. I haven't played a Test at the Multan cricket stadium, but this stadium is certainly one of the best, if not the best, in the world. The lush green outfield, excellent pavilions and a good sporting wicket make this ground compete with any other ground in Test playing countries.

The Indians will rely on their batting powerhouse to put us under pressure but I still believe that we have bowlers of enough calibre to contain them. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami might have looked off colour in the limited over series, but they are world class pacemen. I am confident that they will bounce back hard in the series.

The way I assess the wicket for the Test, it seems to assist fast bowlers and it will be hard for batsmen. I believe it's the bowlers who win you Tests. I think only twice over-400 runs have been successfully chased in the history of Tests and nine out of 10, it's the bowlers who dominate on the last two days.

After losing in Lahore's decisive one-dayer where even my 72 was not enough to pull off victory, we are determined to give our best shot in the longer version of the game. We know that our people expect a lot from us. We were a bit depressed too because we knew we had our chances in the series but we failed to capitalise on those.

People talk about India's outstanding performance in Australia but they forget that Australia didn't have McGrath and Warne in its bowling armoury last year. I admit that it was not India's problem who was playing against it or not, but as I said earlier, it's the bowlers who help you in winning a Test.

The Indians surely have a psychological edge going into the Test matches because victory naturally lifts the morale of the players - especially if you win away from home. However, the mood in our camp is also good. Our captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and coach Javed Miandad have backed each and every player in an informal pep-talk when we arrived in Multan on Wednesday.

The best thing about our skipper is that he knows how to handle pressure situations. He is an experienced player and playing in his hometown has given him the extra motivation to lead the side to success.

The only worrying sign for me in the Tests is our fielding. We dropped too many catches, like the crucial one of V.V.S. Laxman, in the decisive one-dayer and we have to make doubly sure that such costly misses do not happen again. Giving the Indian batsmen another chance means that we put extra pressure on our batsmen to score all those runs.

The astonishing figure of over 100 extras in one-dayers was one of the key factors in our 3-2 loss, but in Test matches the bowlers always have a second chance of making amends with bowling three to four spells in a day.

If India has a quality spinner in Anil Kumble, we too have two good slow bowlers in Saqlain Mushtaq, who has an impressive record against India in Tests, and the ever improving Danish Kaneria. I am not sure whether both of them or one of them will come into the final playing XI, but both of them are capable of doing well against any opposition in the world.

For me the less we think about the strengths and weaknesses of this in-form Indian team the better it should be for us. We are looking to our strengths — which is our bowling — to deliver the goods for us in the Test series.

India suffered a major blow when its captain Sourav Ganguly was ruled out from Sunday's game due to back injury. Sourav is a key component in the Indian batting line-up but more importantly he has sound leadership qualities and knows how to get the maximum from his players. I hope he recovers in time before the second Test begins and my best wishes are with him.

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