Old foes, new venue, same passion

Right now, though, the sides are preparing mentally for their first encounter in the Asia Cup super four series at Premadasa Stadium. As if echoing the players’ thoughts, Ganguly and Inzamam were no doubt wondering where they fit in with this continuous challenge, with its mad merry go round.

‘‘We are going into a game where, having played each other so often not too long ago, we almost knew what was coming’’, Ganguly said. ‘‘It is something we are going to have to look at and adjust to accordingly.

‘‘It is actually a little too much pressure (having to play Pakistan so many times in a year), but it is the game that attracts people and attention and so there is a tendency for you to play a bit too much’’, he added. ‘‘But that is the way it is. The itinerary is fixed and we just have to go ahead with it and play them.’’

What he was hiding here was how gameplans and strategies would have to be changed from the last series; trying something new is part of the way both teams will prepare for this game.

Pakistan losing to Sri Lanka by seven wickets the other night was not quite what the Pakistanis wanted, including Bob Woolmer, the man who replaced Javed Miandad as coach after the 3-2 limited-overs defeats (and the equally unpalatable 2-1 Test defeat).

As Miandad’s style of coaching was held culpable, he had to be turfed out and Woolmer was brought in to give a new dimension to the side of the game that has developed a new formula.

Woolmer is a different coach to John Wright. Both prefer background roles, yet Woolmer is the man with the more noticeable innovation ideas. He wasn’t at all impressed, though, with the way Pakistan performed against Sri Lanka the other night. He had noted before that one of Pakistan’s faults was their genius for playing an error-riddled game.

What went on last Wednesday was something a little more akin to careless hari-kari. There was the run-out disease along with slip catching practice; batsmen tossing away their wickets, giving away runs and failing to build an innings. Were they trying too hard, knowing the game against Ganguly’s marauders was barely five days away? There are no smart answers. Just as India discovered against Sri Lanka in Dambulla, nothing can be taken for granted — not even a bad night, as Zaheer Khan unhappily explained, on an outfield made greasy by rain.

Sri Lanka have taken a handsome log lead with two easy wins and a growing confidence; Pakistan now need to level with India if they hope to squeeze through. But their psyche could be disturbed still by the defeat by Sri Lanka while India have at least recovered some of their equilibrium with the facile win over junior lightweights Bangladesh.

Limited overs matches is all about the approach to run making and getting big totals on the board. India should not forget that failure against Sri Lanka was by a matter of 12 runs and while the victory over Bangladesh was comprehensive enough, they need to adopt a positive approach at Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. They have done it before and all it needs is this victory to set up a final with Sri Lanka.

A Pakistan victory though will have much riding on India beating Sri Lanka on Thursday night at the same venue to get through. What we now have is an intriguing mind game; Indian style and approach against Pakistan’s flawed panache.