November 15, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 04, 1428

GWALIOR (India), Nov 14: India, looking to bag the series, will clash with Pakistan, who will be facing a do-or-die scenario, in the fourth One-day International in a day-night encounter here on Thursday.

The tendency in the bilateral ODI competitions between the arch-rivals in the last few years has been for the tourists to take the series. India won 3-2 when they toured Pakistan in 2003-04; Pakistan reversed a 0-2 deficit in India in 2004-05; while Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni masterminded a 4-1 series win in Pakistan in 2005-06.

However, India, having a 2-1 lead, now have a chance to resist this trend and clinch the series in the fourth one-dayer of the five-match series here.

The day-night clash, however, could work to Pakistan’s advantage. They won the second ODI under lights in Mohali to square the series, and the semi-final of the 1996 World Cup in Bangalore was the last time they lost under lights to India at their venue.

The start of winter in India plus the change in temperature, a warm afternoon giving way to a cool evening, will bring dew into consideration again.

The dew factor pushed both teams to drop their left-arm spinners, Murali Kartik and Abdul Rehman, at Mohali. The hosts bolstered their batting by picking Virender Sehwag, while Pakistan opted for an extra paceman Sohail Tanvir. Both tactics, however, failed as Pakistan conceded 321, despite augmenting their pace attack, and India’s diluted bowling couldn’t defend even a gigantic 321.

If India axe Kartik on Thursday, they will have two options. The first is to return to the Mohali combination and bring back Sehwag. The matter with fielding only four bowlers is that, apart from Saurav Ganguly, India’s part-time bowlers are spinners who could struggle to control a wet ball.

The other choice is to play Shantakumaran Sreesanth who hasn’t played in the series so far but is an option worth considering, for the touring batsmen sometimes remain suspect against the swing.

If India go for Sehwag, it would mean pushing Yuvraj and Dhoni down the order as Sehwag bats after Gambhir at No 4. Yuvraj and Dhoni have been in superb form, contributing to India’s wins at Guwahati and Kanpur, while batting at four and five.

For Pakistan, they have their problems.

Kamran Akmal’s wicket-keeping form has been deplorable, having spilled four catches in three one-dayers so far including the first-ball drop of Ganguly in Kanpur.

Sarfraz Ahmed has been called up as cover for Kamran, who is nursing an injured hand.

Captain Shoaib Malik said the injury was minor, adding that a final decision would be taken after a fitness test.

Kamran, however, featured in the warm-up sessions actively and is likely to get another chance as the 20-year-old Sarfraz has joined the touring team only on Wednesday evening.

Kamran’s seemingly endless poor show with the willow has also been bothering his team. He batted at No. 7 in Kanpur, after posting mere scores of 12 and 13 while opening in the first two ODIs.

Pakistan have made numerous changes in their opening combination recently though half of their headache seems to be over after Salman Butt showed excellent form in the three ODIs with scores of 50, 37 and 129.

Malik himself can also bat up the order, given his success in the past against India at No. 3 and No. 4. Malik, however, said that Pakistan weren’t facing any problem over batting positions and would decide the order according to the situation.

Asserting the morale in the dressing room is high, Malik opined that the track here at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium was excellent for the match which is expected to be another high-voltage game.

Teams (from):

INDIA: Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Dhoni, (captain), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, R.P. Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar.

PAKISTAN: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik (captain), Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar, Abdul Rehman, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed. —Agencies