— Photo: S. Subramanium

SIGHTS SET: Rahul Dravid and his men would be looking to pull one back in the second ODI at Rawalpindi on Saturday.

Rawalpindi: With the golden crest on his blue India cap gleaming as brightly as the late afternoon sun, Rahul Dravid strode to the pitch. His eyes transfixed on the wicket, he shadow practised with the intensity you would expect in a match.

The Pindi Cricket ground will bring back happy memories for Dravid and the Indian captain acknowledged this with a smile even as he returned from his brief stint in the middle. It was here that he notched up a Test series-winning double hundred in 2004. And now he was using up all his experience and instinct to gauge the track.

India needs to pull out something special in a different format of the game. Trailing 1-0 in the five-match Hutch ODI series, the visitors cannot afford a negative result here.

But then, there is also the larger picture to be looked at — the 2007 World Cup. India coach Greg Chappell said Saturday's match "would be another step in the journey towards the World Cup."

Creating a pool

Irrespective of the verdict, the process of ironing out chinks and unearthing the right men has to continue. Lessons can be learnt from defeats, while there are occasions when a win can mask the shortcomings. "We need to have a pool of 18 to 20 players," said Chappell.

In this context, the absence of a couple of key players presents an opportunity in itself to both teams. Pakistan, as skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq revealed, would be without pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar, still being bothered by a persistent ankle injury (Inzamam said Akhtar was a doubtful starter for the Lahore game as well). Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, nursing a swollen index finger, is almost certain to sit out of the game.

Off-spinning all-rounder Ramesh Powar is expected to replace left-armer Murali Kartik in the Indian eleven, which suggests India will continue with the four-pacemen formula.

All eyes on the pitch

The focus is on the pitch with a light covering of grass and Dravid did have a long conversation with Agha Zahid. Different views about the wicket are doing the rounds. Chappell called it a good pitch for batting. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said the batsmen needed to graft here. Zahid believed that there would be some assistance for the pacemen who could hit the pitch hard. Chappell said he had watched Powar in action and saw promise in the cricketer. Whether to pick the second spinner is the team-management's call. The line of thinking on the eve of the match favoured a fourth paceman. S. Sreesanth appeared to have recovered well from a brief bout of fever and bowled with zest at the nets. Sachin Tendulkar comes back to the arena where he made a sizzling ODI hundred in 2004. Chappell said he had not felt that Tendulkar was out of form even during the Test series.

Pakistan chasing well

Pakistan has been successfully chasing targets at home with the likes of Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik among the runs. The free-stroking Malik, in particular, has been influential. Pakistan, oozing confidence, has handled pressure situations particularly well.

The teams (from):

India: Rahul Dravid (Capt.), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, S. Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina, Murali Kartik, R.P. Singh, Gautam Gambhir. Coach: Greg Chappell.

Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq (Capt.), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Asif, Imran Farhat, Umar Gul, Arshad Khan, Faisal Iqbal. Coach: Bob Woolmer.

Umpires: Simon Taufel & Asad Rauf; Third umpire: Zameer Haider; Match Referee: Chris Broad.

Hours of play: 9.30 a.m. (local time) to 1 p.m., 1.45 p.m. till end of match.

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