The Hindu : Sport : Just pride, confidence at stake for Pakistan

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Sunday, Nov 18, 2007
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Just pride, confidence at stake for Pakistan

Nandita Sridhar

Zaheer Khan, R.P. Singh and Harbhajan Singh to be rested

— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

desperate measures?: Misbah-ul-Haq, trying on R.P. Singh’s helmet, might be ready to go to any lengths to ensure his team ends its losing spree in the fifth and final ODI in Jaipur on Sunday.

Jaipur: When the words doing the rounds aren’t about strategies, numbers or contests, but pride, confidence and momentum, you smell dead rubber.

These inconsequential matches that often involve pride after the fall, are the climactic rituals of most bilateral one-day series. The Sawai Mansingh Stadium that will host the fifth ODI of the Indian Oil Cup will offer its services as a testing ground for the Indian reserves. Whatever Pakistan wishes to salvage from the series, there’s always the pride to restore.

The Indian team management revealed that it would give opportunities to those who hadn’t played so far. “Zaheer Khan, R.P. Singh and Harbhajan Singh will be rested,” said cricket manager Lalchand Rajput.

Should S. Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma and Praveen Kumar (who will be making his debut if drafted into the 11) make it, India could leave out Virender Sehwag or Sourav Ganguly to accommodate Murali Kartik in the eleven.

Hard track

The track is hard, and offers itself well for batting. India has won five out of its eight matches at the stadium.

The one match that would take some doing to forget would be the India-Sri Lanka 2005 encounter.

M.S. Dhoni, on that day, forced writers into reworking batting adjectives. Batting, he proved, could be cruel, remorseless and hazardous to a bowler’s psyche.

His 183 in 145 balls was hitting unfiltered by situations, responsibilities and pressure. It was macabre, almost illegal.

“It will be in the back of everyone’s mind. The whole nation will hope for him to match it,” said Gautam Gambhir.

That innings was achieved batting at number three. The weight of captaincy, and the situation in which he usually walks in now might not allow a repeat, but even a fleeting glimpse might suffice.

Tactical decision

Choosing to rest the bowlers instead of the batsmen is a tactically sound decision by India. Pakistan has suffered largely due to its bowling.

Knocking down a couple of batsmen playing their first match in the series with fewer experienced hands around could offer the visitors a consolatory confidence.

It might also reinforce the Indian team’s dependability on the batsmen in absentia. The team management obviously has enough faith in its batsmen to compensate for the absence of three strike bowlers.

Imposing methods

There’s good reason to believe so. Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and M.S. Dhoni have been imposing.

The batting has revolved around them, and they’ve delivered. More than their runs, their methods have stood out.

Pakistan, under a lot of flak after another series loss, is forced to read plenty into a meaningless match.

“We will try to win this match, and go into the Test series with confidence,” said Misbah-ul-Haq.

Misbah also added that the team did not play as badly as people said it did. “We did lose the series 1-3, but that doesn’t mean we played poorly. The previous match was an easy win for them, but the rest of the matches could have gone either way,” he said.

Pakistan will decide its eleven on Sunday morning. The two teams have clashed twice so far, and have won a match each. But those matches happened as far back as in the 80s and the 90s.

A good contest could salvage something out of the concluding match of the series.

The teams (from):

India: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, R.P. Singh, S. Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh.

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (captain), Younis Khan, Abdur Rehman, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Anjum, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul and Yasir Hameed.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove and A.M. Saheba.

Third Umpire: G.A. Pratapkumar. Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama.

Match starts at 2.30 p.m.

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