12 November 2004	Friday	28 Ramazan 1425

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KOLKATA, Nov 11: Pakistan's One-day international cricket match in India in five years is more about "building relations" than winning or losing, visiting captain Inzamamul Haq said on Thursday.

"Winning or losing does not matter on this occasion. The important thing is to build relations," Inzamam said ahead of Saturday's day-night international at the Eden Gardens here.

The one-off match is being played to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Indian cricket board.

Pakistan last played in India in 1999 before political tensions between the South Asian neighbours halted their cricket rivaly.

The matches resumed this year when India undertook its first Test tour of Pakistan since 1989 in March-April and won both the Test and one-day series.

"We are coming back after 1999. We are happy to be here as people of both the countries have warmth for each other. We are neighbours and know each other well," said the Pakistani captain.

Inzamam, however, stressed his players will not lose focus amid the celebrations, saying they were keen to extend their supremacy over India.

Pakistan have won the last three one-dayers against India played since August in Sri Lanka, the Netherlands and England.

"We are confident of beating India for the fourth time if we play well," said Inzamam.

Pakistan have been strengthened by the return of fast bowling spearheads Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, who missed the second and final home Test against Sri Lanka earlier this month due to injuries.

India captain Sourav Ganguly said he did not believe Pakistan would find it easy this time.

"Just like the way we won in Pakistan, they won against us in the last three games," said Ganguly.

"Now it is our turn to do so."

The Indian captain returns to lead a full-strength side after recovering from a groin injury which forced him to miss the last two home Tests against Australia.

Ganguly, who played a four-day domestic game to assess his fitness, said he was confident of appearing in the big match on Saturday.

"I felt very comfortable the past four days," said the Indian captain who will undergo a fitness test before the match.

Talented fast bowler Irfan Pathan has been declared fit after missing the last two Tests against Australia with a side strain.

Meanwhile, the pitch for Saturday's One dayer between arch rivals India and Pakistan at Eden Gardens has a lush green look, but would favour the batsmen, its curator said.

"It will be a good wicket for the batsmen. It will even have bounce," curator Prabir Mukherjee said.

"The strip will be full of runs. Cricket, particularly a One dayer,is a batsman's game. The spectators will get their money's worth," he said.

He said he had not received any request from the Indian team management on the nature of the wicket.

"They have not told me anything about whether they wanted the grass to be cut," he said.

Traditionally, Eden wicket has always favoured the team batting first in day-night matches because of the dew factor.

"This advantage may be there. Statistics says that the team batting second has always had problems," he said.

The pitch has become subject of intense debate recently as Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly had expressed his dissatisfaction with pace-friendly track in the third Test against Australia at Nagpur.

After Mumbai Test, which was won by India, Australian captain Ricky Ponting complained about the viciously turning pitch in his post-match comments.

Pakistan (from): Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Yousuf Youhana, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umer, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naveedul Hassan, Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Riaz Afridi, Aamir Basheer.

India (from): Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sridharan Sriram, Dinesh Karthik.-Agencies