Greentop greets Indians

RAWALPINDI, Feb 12: India A will have to survive a test by fire when they take on a formidable Pakistan A side in their first four-day quot...

RAWALPINDI, Feb 12: India A will have to survive a test by fire when they take on a formidable Pakistan A side in their first four-day quot;Testquot; which begins here tomorrow.

A hard and green wicket tailor-made for the pacemen has made winning the toss vital and the Indian team management hopes they are lucky in that aspect to put in the rivals.

The Pakistan team, led by Test fast bowler Aaqib Javed, has the highly-rated Basit Ali to contend with, besides opener Salim Elahi, Shahid Afridi, the talented Hassan Raza and all-rounder Mohammad Hussain who have all turned out for the senior Pakistan team.

Javed, omitted from the senior side which is now touring South Africa, has always been a handful for India while Basit Ali, out of national reckoning for the last two years, is in ominous form which was revealed in his fluent 133 for the Karachi XI in the first outing for the Indian side.

India, on their first tour of Pakistan since 1989 when the seniors led by current coach Krishnamachari Srikkanth drew theseries, come into the first game after a good feel of the conditions.

Srikkanth said the toss is vital. quot;But ours is a balanced side and with Ajit Agarkar coming in at number seven or eight, the Indian batting strength is good,quot; he added.

quot;The Pakistanis are definitely an experienced side and very serious about this tour. But we have discussed how to counter Basit Ali and Afridi. Our boys are fully committed and Bahutule and Karthik have also been bowling well,quot; he added.

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The leading batsmen came good with paceman Agarkar doing no harm to his credentials as an all-rounder by smashing an unbeaten century after capturing six wickets in Peshawar.

India have left out left-handers Nikhil Haldipur, Rohan Gavaskar, junior World Cupper Reetinder Sodhi and named Noel David as the 12th man.

Skipper Khoda and Wasim Jaffer 8212; the two narrowly missed centuries at Karachi 8212; lead the batting, followed by Peshawar centurion Sanjay Raul and Jatin Paranjpe, who made 115 in Karachi. Keeper MSK Prasad is also a soundbatsman.

India will field three pacemen in a five-man attack, led by Debashish Mohanty. Left-armer Madhukar and Agarkar are the other pacemen. Agarkar is high on confidence after his Peshawar showing.

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Leg-spinner Bahutule, coming here after playing a few one-dayers and the younger left-arm spinner Karthik, who took three for 76 in Karachi, will have to make an impact to keep their aspirations for bigger things alive.

The teams from: India A: Gagan Khoda captain, Wasim Jaffer, Jatin Paranjpe, Sanjay Raul, Abbas Ali, MSK Prasad wk, Ajit Agarkar, Sairaj Bahutule, Debasish Mohanty, N Madhukar, Murali Karthik.

Pakistan A: Aaqib Javed captain, Salim Elahi, Basit Ali, Shahid Afridi, Hassan Raza, Qayyumul Hassan, Muhammad Hussain, Humayun Khan wk, Murtaza Hussain, Naeem Ashraf, Fazle Akbar, Jaffar Nazir and Azhar Shafiq.