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| February 5, 2006 | Sunday | Muharram 6, 1427 |
Inzamam set for return against India in Peshawar: Sellout for first ODI
PESHAWAR, Feb 4: Pakistan skipper Inzamamul Haq is all set to return to the team for the opening match of the One-day International series on Monday after missing third and final cricket Test at Karachi due to back injury.
Inzamam pulled out during the second Test in Faisalabad after a recurrence of back spasm. He batted with a runner and scored a brilliant hundred.
Pakistan won the Test series in style in Karachi by a huge margin of 341 runs.
Inzamam spent a lot of time in three different nets and had a strenuous workout against pace bowlers and spinners.
“I faced no problem in the nets and look forward to play in the first one-dayer,” he said.
The Pakistan skipper used a special belt around his waist which put less stress on his back.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan team had an extended over two and half hour session at the net area of Arbab Niaz Stadium.
Besides Inzamam, all-rounders Shoaib Malik and Rana Navedul Hasan are almost certain to play in the first one-dayer.
The trio are likely to replace Faisal Iqbal, Imran Farhat and Danish Kaneria who featured in the series-winning Karachi Test.
In the meantime the city is bustling with activities with the arrival of the two teams. The game itself is already sold out at the 18,000-capacity stadium but diehard cricket supporters still are hovering to get tickets to watch the players in action.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Kaif, Murli Kartik, Suresh Raina and S. Shreeshanth arrived on Saturday to join the Indian cricket team for the five-match One-day Internationals series against Pakistan.
The quartet arrived in Lahore from New Delhi and got a connecting flight to Islamabad before reaching Peshawar by road.
Kaif, who is a fine batsman, is also renowned for his excellent fielding. Kartik is a left arm spinner while Raina is an all-rounder and Shreeshanth is a right-arm medium-pacer.
The one-day specialists, who were welcomed by Indian team manager Raj Singh Dungarpur at the team hotel, replaced Saurav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, V.V.S. Laxman, Anil Kumble and Parthiv Patel, all of whom were in the Test squad.
Later they had light training at the Arbab Niaz Stadium, where the first ODI takes place on Monday.
The rest of the Indian team was visiting historic Khyber Pass.
Tickets for Monday’s one-day matches are sold out, officials said.
“It is a sell out and we have no tickets for the match left,” said an official, in charge of the ticket sales.
The Arbab Niaz stadium has a capacity of 15,000 which will be packed for the first match in Peshawar for two years.
Foreign teams had refused to play in Peshawar citing security fears for the northern city’s close proximity to war-torn Afghanistan.
India played a one-day match in Peshawar on their last tour to Pakistan in 2004 but England refused a one-day match on their tour last year.
“We sold 9,600 tickets of general stand and 4,500 other tickets in no time, but fans still throng the branches of the bank,” said Baig.
Another 250 tickets have also been sold out over the Internet, all booked by people coming from India.
Officials said the biggest Indian contingent of 9,000 fans was expected to travel to Lahore for the third one-day match scheduled on February 13.
The second match of the series will be played in Rawalpindi on February 11. Multan will host the fourth match on February 16 and Karachi will stage the fifth and final game on February 19.
Pakistan clinched the three-Test series 1-0, when they outclassed India by 341 runs in the third and final Test in Karachi on Wednesday. It was their first Test series win over their arch-rivals since 1987.—Agencies
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