Back to the drawing board

And so every man jack 8212; and the families that have flocked from neighbouring towns 8212; is fervently hoping that the next five days provide some diversion, that the local heroes and the first Indian team here since 1989 live up to the hype. Talk about pressure of performance!

It won8217;t be easy. To make a match of this Test, both teams will have to work extremely hard. History suggests 8212; as the Indians found out in their endless hours of net-surfing at Lahore 8212; that the Iqbal Stadium favours draws. Of the 23 Tests played here, 11 have had no result 8212; as did the last one, against England two months ago.

Three of the four Tests India have played here have been draws 8212; including the only match that Sachin Tendulkar played here in 1989 8212; and they lost the fourth in 1982-83 by 10 wickets.

The past matters at this venue, because nothing much has changed here since the late 8217;70s and early 8217;80s. The nature of the soil remains the same and so does the pitch, which the Australians famously labelled in 1982 as 8216;8216;lifeless in the most horrifying way.8217;8217;

However, there is one big difference: the PCB has already faced heavy embarrassment over Lahore and so cannot afford to take another risk in this series. They8217;ve been helped by the weather 8212; bright sunshine yesterday and today 8212; but the wicket looks like a flat batting track.

Inzamam8217;s request to leave dry grass on the pitch8212;as reported by this paper 8212; has been attended to, which means that spinners will get to play as much a role in the match as their fast-bowling counterparts.

It8217;s likely that the Indian team will be unchanged. The sword is hanging over Harbhajan and Agarkar, though their defence is that they were only as impressive in Lahore as the Gaddafi track allowed them to be. Nonetheless, Harbhajan registered his worst bowling performance in a Test innings, failing for the first time in his career to take a wicket despite conceding more than 100 runs. Yet if Bhajji thinks he8217;ll get a break in Faisalabad, he should check these stats: In eight Tests here since 1995, spinners have taken 86 wickets at an average of 38 while fast bowlers have picked 150 wickets at an average of 23.

Not that this statistic will be of any consolation to Agarkar either; he gave away 122 runs, though picking up two wickets, in Lahore. 8216;8216;He is not the kind of bowler for Pakistani wickets,8217;8217; says former Pakistan pacer Sarfraz Nawaz.

By late evening there was talk of Harbhajan making way for seamer RP Singh, though the think tank would do well to hear what Michael Holding said today: 8216;8216;One cannot expect the ball to do anything on its own here.8217;8217;

Cue Anil Kumble, who was talked up today by his coach as being Inzamam8217;s tormentor-in-chief. The Pakistan skipper has fallen to Kumble more times than any other bowler, and the leggie anyway has an enviable record against these opponents. There are many bit-parts and cameos; what this match now needs is a good script. After all, it8217;ll probably be the only show for miles around.