VISAKAPATNAM, April 4: Despite winning comfortably by 87 runs in the first ODI at Cochin, India is still expecting a spirited Pakistan to fight back here in the second of the six-match series. “We’re very aware Pakistan will bounce back hard. They are an extremely good ODI side and will be keen to correct the mistakes they made in Cochin,” Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid declared on Monday.
As in Cochin, the heat is likely to play an important factor in the match. Questions have been raised about the suitability of playing matches in April, when the heat and humidity at most venues is often unbearable.
Under such situations, the toss assumes greater significance. “It’s not rocket science. Whoever wins the toss will elect to bat and keep the opponents on the field for 50 overs. Conditions are tough in April in India but you have to cope with them.
“It’s all a question of how you recover from games and how you manage your time on and off the field. You have to leave enough in the tank for the next game.
“A series in such conditions poses different kinds of mental and physical questions. As professionals we have to answer them, whichever team manages the weather better will win,” claimed Dravid.
If Pakistan is to level the series, they are likely to do so again without the man at the heart of the fight back in Bangalore, vice-captain Younis Khan.
Younis missed the match at Cochin due to a throat infection after scoring over 500 runs in the Test series, including an epic 267 in the first innings at Bangalore.
Younis said on Monday that although he hadn’t fully recovered, he was “in better shape than before.”
Speaking to Dawn, Pakistan manager Saleem Altaf said Younis was unlikely to feature in the line-up. “He has recovered well but is not fully match-fit so will be unlikely to play.”
Understandably, panic has not yet set in after the Cochin loss and confidence within the team, as Younis reiterated, is still high.
“Even if we lose two or three matches it isn’t a worry. At Cochin we didn’t have enough partnerships, we didn’t bat in pairs but one person needs to bat till the end.”
Virender Sehwag adds a crucially decisive and destructive note of caution. He said after Cochin that he was in the form of his life, in contrast to others in a much-vaunted, legend-heavy batting order. With some support from Dravid, Sehwag has pillaged runs off Pakistan; his century at Cochin came on the back of 544 runs in the Test series leading to suggestions in the local press that India relied on him heavily.
Dravid refuted the claim. “We don’t feel there is any over reliance on Veeru (Sehwag). He’s just been the standout performer of the series and he’s really good to have at the top of the order but the others are capable of scoring runs too.”
Pakistan at least can take solace from the fact that at Cochin, as in Mohali, their pain was self-inflicted, dropping Sehwag early and repeatedly.
“He was lucky, but he cashed in on it,” Younis said. If he gets as lucky again at here the true depth of Pakistan’s resilience will be put to test.
