da cassino： Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria will be the key bowlers for Pakistan in the three-Test series against India which starts on Thursday, feels Shoaib Malik
Dileep Premachandran in Delhi21-Nov-2007
Shoaib Akhtar’s performance will be key for Pakistan in the three-Test series against India © AFP
One man can seldom make the difference in a three-match Test series,especially one who hasn’t always lived up to lofty expectations. ButShoaib Malik, Pakistan’s captain, was in little doubt as to where thisseries against India would be won and lost. Shoaib Akhtar is effectivelyon probation after his antics in the build-up to the Twenty20 World Cup, butMalik believes that he could well be the X-factor that decides this mostkeenly fought of cricket contests.”If we’re to win the series, Shoaib and Danish [Kaneria] will have a vitalrole to play,” said Malik on the eve of the game. “Shoaib’s fitness levelis good. He’s our trump card for sure.”Malik disputed the assertion that Shoaib hadn’t really found his rhythm inthe one-day series. “He was in rhythm,” he said. “He was consistentlybowling at 150-plus [kph]. It was I who asked him to bowl with a shorterrun-up because we had some problems with time [slow over-rate].”The allegedly slow nature of the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch could draw thesting out of Pakistani pace, but Malik wasn’t too perturbed by the 22yards. “Whatever cricket we’ve seen recently, even on spinning tracks, thefast bowlers have done well,” he said. “So we’re not too worried.”They will be worried about the back injury that has ruled Umar Gul out of this Test. Gul missed over a year of cricket with stress fractures of the back between 2004 and 2006, but the injury is not thought to be serious. “He has a stress pain in the back. He consulted an orthopaedic surgeon during the day and had a scan done. It is not a serious injury but we have decided to rest him as a precautionary measure”, Pakistan’s media manager Ahsan Malik said.That should mean a Test debut for Sohail Tanvir, though it’s likely to beMohammad Sami who shares the new ball with Shoaib. Despite the failure ofthe four-bowler plan against South Africa, Pakistan are likely to resistthe temptation to play Abdur Rehman.Malik was confident that Kaneria could match the Indian spinners. “Iwouldn’t say either team has the edge in the spin department,” he said.”Anil [Kumble], Harbhajan [Singh] and Murali Kartik are all very goodspinners. We have Danish. But our main strength is our pace bowling.”India’s pace department has been considerably weakened by the injuries to Sreesanthand RP Singh, but Malik was taking nothing for granted in the build-up tothe game. “They have called up Munaf Patel, and they already have ZaheerKhan in the team,” he said. “Their spin attack is strong. There might besome change in their plans but it’s still a strong attack.”Ever since Saeed Anwar retired from the international arena, Pakistan havestruggled to find a semblance of consistency at the top of the order, butMalik stressed that there would be no experimentation before the firstgame of the series. “We have two openers [Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed] inthe squad and both of them will play.”Following the reverse in the one-day series, much had been said,especially back home in Pakistan, about the lack of spirit within the teamand the captain’s inability to rouse his men. Malik scoffed at suchsuggestions. “Things have been said because we lost,” he said brusquely.”If we had won, none of these issues would have been raised.”Though it counted for little in the larger scheme of things, he was happyat the manner in which Pakistan had approached the dead rubber in Jaipur.”We’d already lost the series, but the way we played was veryencouraging,” he said. “Whenever you win, it’s good for the morale.”For Malik, it will be his second bilateral series as captain, while hiscounterpart, Anil Kumble, leads India in a Test for the first time at theage of 37. “Each day you learn something when you play cricket,” saidMalik when asked whether the difference in experience would be a factor.”He has so much experience that I don’t think it’ll make a big differenceto him.”Pakistan haven’t lost a Test series on Indian soil since Asif Iqbal’steam lost 2-0 in 1979. Malik called that little statistic a powerfulsource of motivation, and his underdog side appear quietly confident ofupsetting the odds yet again in a contest that means just a little bitmore than any other.Pakistan (likely) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Yasir Hameed, 3 Younis Khan,4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Shoaib Malik (capt), 6 Misbah-ul-Haq, 7 Kamran Akmal(wk), 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 DanishKaneria.