January 29, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 28, 1426

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KARACHI, Jan 28: Both Pakistan and India have virtually everything to play for as they come head-to-head in the series-deciding third and final Test at the National Stadium from Sunday.

The fact that the series has still remained 0-0 after two somnolent matches was attributed to the unresponsive pitches at Lahore and Faisalabad on which the batsmen pounded the bowlers into submission.

Younis Khan, who needs just 16, runs to complete 1,000 runs against India, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, prospered most on the clinically dead strips of Lahore and Faisalabad.

In sharp contrast, Zaheer Khan’s four for 61 are the best innings figures recorded in the series before the final Test as do the left-armer’s match haul of seven for 196.  

However, things could be different since the pitch here at least has something in it for the quick bowlers. A couple of decent spells from someone like Shoaib Akhtar may have a lot of bearing on the ultimate outcome.

Both Inzamamul Haq and Rahul Dravid sounded optimistic at Saturday’s pre-match media briefing. The skippers were appreciative of the hard work put in by the NSK curator Ahsan Arain in producing a ‘sporting’ track. In general, NSK has been Pakistan’s luckiest centre in Test cricket.

They have won 19 of the 37 Tests played here. Their solitary defeat came against England in the dusk of December 2000 while 17 matches were drawn.

Two of Pakistan’s six victories over India on home soil were on this ground in 1978-79 and the second Test of the 1982-83 rubber when Imran Khan demolished Sunil Gavaskar’s side with an 11-wicket haul.

His eight for 60 in the second innings to this day remains the best figures here.

Both teams were non-committal about their playing elevens. The good news for Pakistan is that Shoaib is fit and relishing to have a go at the Indians in existing conditions.

But the home team faces an anxious wait on the fitness of Inzamam. The Pakistan skipper is fighting to recover sufficiently from recurrence of his back injury that forced him to miss the last three days of the Faisalabad Test, a match that yielded a Pakistan record 1702 runs.

With Shoaib Malik omitted the sad demise of his father, Pakistan have kept their options open as to who would partner Salman Butt at the top of the order.

In case Inzamam is sidelined, the in-form Faisal Iqbal would be the ideal man to make a Test comeback after three years in the wilderness.

The left-handed Imran Farhat is another alternative if Pakistan plans to have two specialist openers. But given the current status of pitch that was not rolled on Saturday, Pakistan may ask Kamran Akmal to go in first.

The wicket-keeper, who ran with the Man-of-the-Series award in the ODI series against England last month, did a splendid job while deputizing for the absent Shoaib Malik in the second innings at Faisalabad.

If Kamran were to open with Salman, Pakistan can afford to field a pace quartet with Danish Kaneria and the crowd’s favourite Shahid Afridi lending leg-spin support.

Tall seamer Umar Gul, having recovered from a stress fracture in his back, is almost certain to make his sixth Test appearance after two years.

Umar, it was, who engineered Pakistan’s win in the Lahore Test of the 2003-04 series with six wickets. The selection of third genuine speedster is debatable after Rana Navedul Hasan was declared fit from a shoulder problem.

Mohammad Asif didn’t do badly on the lifeless Iqbal Stadium strip and deserves another chance here. The Indians, meanwhile, have trimmed their squad by leaving out openers Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir and reserve wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel.   Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is tipped to make way for Saurav Ganguly after going wicketless for 355 runs in the first two Tests.

Ganguly, the former captain, was axed for the second Test since India chose to field five specialist bowlers. But in case, India opt to endorse the same policy then medium-pacer Ajit Agarkar comes into equation to complement the left-arm trio of Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan and R.P. Singh with Anil Kumble looking after the spin department.

It was 16 years and 76 days ago when one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar donned the Indian colours for the first time to lay the foundation of a distinguished international batting career.

It was that long ago that Tendulkar, now 32, began his 128-Test career at the National Stadium. Tendulkar is more than eager to atone for his failure in the only innings he had so far in the series.  

Obviously the pressure of playing for a positive result is on both teams, more so on Pakistan for being the home team.

The expectations, therefore, are high and a reversal in fortune in the coming five days here won’t be accepted kindly by all and sundry in either country.

Teams:

PAKISTAN (likely): Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamamul Haq (captain), Shahid Afridi, Faisal Iqbal, Abdul  Razzaq, Rana Navedul Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Arshad Khan, Imran Farhat.

INDIA: Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (captain), Vangipurappu Laxman,  Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh. Umpires: Daryl Harper and Simon Taufel (both Australia). TV umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan). Reserve umpire: Salim Badar (Pakistan). Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).