Everything related to India’s chances of finishing the next 30 days in Pakistan on a high note depends on tomorrow. If India do manage to level the one-day series, the tour itself could become more interesting. Indian captain Saurav Ganguly may call it ‘just another game’, but he knows that a loss for his side on Sunday would demoralise the team and make things difficult for the remainder of the tour.Hence there is need for some introspection, a review of the series to date. India stretched Pakistan in all three games but twice could not finish it off. That hurts Ganguly more than anything. ‘‘ When you miss your key bowlers it is going to be difficult, but obviously that’s not an excuse’’, he said today. ‘‘We should have still won the game yesterday after having them at 170 for 6.’’The heat will be on India at the Gaddafi Stadium tomorrow, in more ways than one, though Ganguly didn’t concede it. ‘‘We won’t be under any extra pressure. People want to come and watch India-Pakistan matches so it will be good for both teams.’’With all this happening in the background, India’s cricketers will have to somehow tide over distractions and find a way out of the bowling mess. On a wicket that has some grass cover, the Indian bowling, especially the fast bowlers, will have to deliver. Paceman Zaheer Khan will be the key for, if he delivers as a first-change bowler, the middle overs can be controlled to some extent.The lack of sting in Murali Kartik’s and Ramesh Powar’s bowling prompted Ganguly to remark, wistfully, ‘‘How I miss Harbhajan and Anil (Kumble).’ But since he can’t do much about it, there is likely to be no change to the Peshawar ODI side.The batting came a cropper in the face of a pitch aiding movement. Thankfully, though, the lower order is contributing more and that, more than anything, else will comfort Ganguly and his think-tank.Their Pakistani hosts, too, have promised ‘‘not to take them lightly’’ with Inzamam-ul Haq lavishing praising on the Indians. ‘‘This team has played here better than they did in Australia. Even the bowling is good, especially Irfan.’’The Pakistanis are expected to have the same XI walking out — with the confidence of in-form Shabbir Ahmed and Shoaib Akhtar. But the biggest problem facing the hosts are the extras conceded, which has slowed down the Pakistani over-rate. ‘‘It’s a worry’’, Inzamam said. ‘‘But we are trying to control it at the nets. Hopefully we will be able to come back on track as quickly as possible.’’The other major factor though that could play a huge role apart from the 22 men on both sides on Sunday could be the dew, which had ruined two day-night tournaments, the 1996 World Cup final and 1997 Pakistan’s Independence Cup.In both these events, the team that fielded under lights lost heavily as the ball used to become soapy and spinners especially found it difficult to grip. The locals and groundsman Mir Bashir Khan say that phenomenon is now not that common, but it is still a factor.But despite all these hurdles in the way, Ganguly was hopeful that his team would live upto its reputation of coming out of a tight corner whenever on any tour in his reign. ‘‘Yes, that’s been the trend in the last two-three years. I hope we can continue that tomorrow.’’
