April 18, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427

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ABU DHABI, April 17: Arch-rivals Pakistan and India have once again reunited for a common cause and play the lead role to promote cricket in the UAE when they clash on Tuesday in the first of two day/night One-day Internationals to herald the opening of the Abu Dhabi Cricket Stadium as the second international venue in this part of the world.

The first ODI has especially been dedicated to the victims of last October’s devastating earthquake which struck parts of both Pakistan and India. Pakistan will receive 75 per cent and India 25 per cent of the total revenue generated from the match.

The sub-continent’s cricket giants set the ball rolling in the UAE in early 1980s by introducing Sharjah as an international venue under the banner of Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) and in the process, Sharjah Cricket Stadium became the first venue to host over 100 ODIs as well as off-shore Test matches.

The rivalry between Pakistan and India in UAE is being renewed after a hiatus of nearly five years.

The last tournament held in Sharjah was in April 2002 and teams involved then were Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Kenya. India decided not to play in Sharjah after 2000 for some unknown reasons.

With the new BCCI set-up things have changed for the better and possibly the two great rivals will once again meet in Sharjah, the venue which became a household cricketing name.

Sharjah not only popularised cricket in the region but also provided immense monetary gains to former and current Test cricketers, especially those belonging to Pakistan and India as well as the participating boards.

Reverting to the first ODI, it is difficult to predict the result as no one knows much about Abu Dhabi Stadium’s wicket, but all indications point towards a high-scoring match, according to the curator who believes that the strip will be much kinder to the willow than the leather.

But such predictions have been proved wrong in the past.

On paper, both the teams are well-matched, but India led by Rahul David, hold a slight edge having beaten Inzamamul Haq’s side 4-1 when the two teams met in Pakistan earlier this year.

India then maintained that excellent form against a depleted England and easily clinched the seven-match one-day series.

Pakistan too after the unexpected loss to India bounced back and overwhelmed a weakened Sri Lanka 2-0 in three-match series. The first ODI was abandoned due to heavy rains.

Both the teams, however, will be missing a big name each. India will be without their most prolific run machine, Sachin Tendulkar, and Pakistan missing premier fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

Both Tendulkar and Shoaib are nursing long-term injuries and will need time to recover fully and ready to play again.

But such is the nature of ODIs that the previous results do not matter much, a point proved over and over again. So whoever plays better on the day will triumph.

The organisers expect a full house for both the matches at this state-of-the-art stadium, which will be televised globally and watched by millions of cricket enthusiasts the world over.

Teams (from):

PAKISTAN: Inzamamul Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal, Rana Navedul Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rahman, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi.

INDIA: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Venugopal Rao.