Indian captain Rahul Dravid stressed that he had almost the same squad which beat Pakistan in 2004 and he was expecting the same fighting spirit from his players for repeat performance. India toured in 2004 under the captaincy of Saurav Ganguly, who is now part of the team as a player.
However, Dravid admitted that a tough competition was in the offing. “The home team is fresh from a win against England and its batsmen and bowlers are in good form. The same position is also true of our team and that indicates that competitive cricket is forthcoming,” Dravid said.
He said that cricket enjoys a special status both in Pakistan and India and millions of people would be watching the series turning it into a special event.
“We are committed to play cricket with the best sportsman spirit to create goodwill and make friends”, he asserted.
Asked if Ganguly would be included in the final XI of the first Test, Dravid said that like any other player, the former skipper also had a chance to get a place in the final eleven but a decision would be taken before the start of the Test.
Ganguly expressed his view that he had a successful tour of Pakistan in 2004 as captain and the main reason for that win was the unity in the team and every player played his due role. “Then I was captain and now a member but it does not matter because playing for India is an honour.”
Arguably India’s greatest batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, stated that this could be his last tour of Pakistan, therefore, it was a special occasion for him.
Tendulkar pointed out that that he still remembered the moment when he made his Test debut in Karachi and it had always been a special occasion for him to play in Pakistan.
He emphasised that a contest between the two countries always had excitement for the fans and that also made the players play to their full potential.
Tendulkar said that he had not set Shoaib Akhtar as his special target and even did not think about such things and rated the current Pakistan’s pace attack a fiery one as other bowlers were also performing well but admitted that Shoaib was in terrific form.
Zaheer Khan said that he was happy over being fit before the tour and committed he would play with positive frame of mind.
Fast bowler Irfan Pathan vowed to put up a good performance during the series adding that during his two years career he had learnt a lot and would be a different bowler.
Wasim Jaffar, an opening batsman, said that if he got a chance he would try to deliver.
Coach Greg Chappell believed that his team had a good combination in all departments of the game and added that the squad had three solid openers and a several batsmen of high quality in the middle-order to cope with the menace of Pakistan’s pacers.