June 14, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1429

DHAKA, June 13: Unbeaten India go into Saturday’s limited-overs tri-series final as favourites against struggling archrivals Pakistan who were outplayed in the tournament’s round match.

In the round matches India had a 140-run victory against Pakistan and a seven-wicket victory against Bangladesh. Pakistan advanced to the final after beating Bangladesh on Sunday by 70 runs.

Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson downplayed the match.

“It’s not do-or-die rather it’s (the) final of a tournament, which we want to win,” Lawson, talking to reporters here at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, stated.

Though Lawson appeared to be very calm at the pre-match conference, with PCB chief Dr Nasim Ashraf set to attend Saturday’s final, Lawson and his team would surely feel the heat.“It’s the final of a tournament and we want to win it. Even if we lose, we will wake up to see the sun up the next morning, we will head home and go into the next tournament,” Lawson stated.

“We will be competitive. We have prepared well and had three practice sessions; we are looking forward for a win in the final against India.

“We will do well in batting, bowling and fielding and I hope we will do well,” he added.

When asked whether the team is having a gap due to the absence of main fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, Lawson replied that there is no such gap.

The coach rejected that the wicket is spinner-friendly, saying the track is perfectly sporting and it is good to have plenty of fast bowlers in the squad.

“The pitch has bounce and is like any other wicket we have in other countries. But the pitch is wet at the moment and it will be decided on Saturday who is in the playing eleven.”

Describing Pakistan’s poor show in their last game against India, he said: “If the catches had been taken, the result would have been different.

“This time we will try to get those chances and do well,” he said referring to the catches that were dropped by Pakistan fielders in the last game early in the Indian innings.

Meanwhile, Indian coach Gary Kirsten is expecting a good contest on Saturday.

“We want to execute our plan and if we play good cricket we have a chance,” Kirsten said. “We expect a big clash.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Indian team have hardly put a foot wrong since their arrival in Dhaka.

The top order has scored heaps of runs and the bowlers have given early breakthroughs in both the round matches. And Dhoni will have to guard against any complacency in the decider.

“You carry on the momentum to some extent, but you always start again. So, we have to do all the good things we have been doing again in the final,” said the Indian skipper.

Teams:

INDIA (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Manpreeta Gony, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R.P. Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha.

PAKISTAN (from): Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz, Fawad Alam, Bazid Khan and Naumanullah.—Agencies