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| February 6, 2006 | Monday | Muharram 7, 1427 |
Inzamam’s return bolsters Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Feb 5: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq has recovered from a nagging back injury and will take his place in the opening One-day International of the five-match series against India on Monday.
“I am okay now and I will be playing in the first match,” Inzamam told a news conference on Sunday.
“I have batted in the nets for a long time without any pain.”
Pakistan go into the match with a clear edge over their rivals having beaten them eight times in the last 10 one-dayers, but Inzamam insisted his team would need to work hard to keep their winning momentum going.
“Statistics count for nothing on the field and India have some good young players,” he said.
“We will have to play well to beat them, despite having just won a Test series that has created a confident atmosphere within the team.”
India return to the Arbab Niaz Stadium for the first time in two years and organisers have sold all 15,000 available tickets, hardly surprising considering four of the Pakistan squad are from this province.
Inzamam added that his players were getting used to the super-sub and powerplay rule changes implemented in the one-day game and hoped to utilise them to good effect.
Pakistan is expected to promote wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal to opener after he scored two hundreds against England in the one-day series in December and another two against India in the recent Tests.
India’s batting line-up could be altered to use Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar as openers with captain Rahul Dravid reverting to his normal number three position.
Dravid said that his side were not concerned by a poor recent record against Pakistan and regarded the ODIs as a chance to rebound from the disappointment of losing the Test series.
“To achieve a win we have to play well in all departments of the game,” he said.
“We respect the opposition as they are performing well, especially in their own conditions, but we will try to learn something from our recent meetings and put up a strong fight.”
Dravid said there would be added pressure on his bowlers to perform well against batsmen who had been in terrific form in the Tests.
India go into the series with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh a minor doubt and will wait until Monday morning before making a decision on his participation after the player injured his right index finger while fielding during practice on Sunday.
“We might not risk him if the problem doesn’t settle,” said Dravid.
Dravid hoped the criticism his team received for losing the final Test would not affect their performance in the one-day series.
“We know the reactions are always extreme, whether you win or lose,” he said. “At this level you are well equipped to take all this in your stride and don’t let it affect the performance.
“We know it’s an important series for the future so we will give it our best.”
If Pakistan win the limited overs series they could secure second spot in the ICC one-day rankings behind world champions Australia.
Teams (from):
PAKISTAN: Inzamamul Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Navedul Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Umer Gul, Arshad Khan, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Asif.
INDIA: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sri Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Harbhajan Singh.
—Agencies
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