Everybody has had his say on the tour to Pakistan. The politicians have, the film stars have, even the unfortunate party-hoppers, who scour the horizon ruthlessly for an opportunity to be in a photograph the next morning, have added their bit. This tour is not about them for they are as irrelevant as former film stars are to an election. This tour is about playing cricket — and if the cricketers believe anything else, they will lose. We’ve done our sabre-rattling, gnashing of teeth, blowing of bugles. We have found threats from all corners and probably made Shoaib Akhtar an even better bowler than he thinks is; which is a difficult act in itself. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a headline recently which suggested that India can breathe easy because somebody called Rao Iftikhar may not play the one-dayers. He might be a good player but we seemed to elevate an uncapped young man who bowls at around 135 kmph into a combination of Lillee, Thomson, Holding and Marshall. Hype can be embarrassing sometimes. India need to approach this series with the same efficiency with which they did the tour of Australia. It is not a word you associate too often with Indian cricket, neither is steel, but there is an abundance of both in this side. It will come in handy against the passionate, aggressive, occasionally reckless approach from Pakistan. Pakistan can be dangerous and wily, temperamental and fragile. Against most opposition in the last couple of years they have presented the second set of qualities. At the World Cup they looked like ordinary players in disguise; we waited for them to take the mask off, laugh hysterically and say ‘‘fooled you’’. Their selection policy after that has been comical with the Pakistan cap, once worn by proud players, distributed like aid in a famine-stricken country. But against India, everything comes together, even like poles might attract. Pakistan have picked a fine one-day side, even though the presence of 16 players might suggest that the spirit of largesse still abounds. The key for them is that the all-rounders allow them to bat deep and the fact that they can call upon Shoaib Malik, Moin Khan, Abdur Razzak and Azhar Mahmood gives them many options. Three of those four are good enough and it will allow Pakistan to play five batsmen, three all-rounders and three bowlers. To counter that, India will have to take wickets early. India do not possess an all-rounder and that means Rahul Dravid must continue to keep wickets. His has been an extraordinary effort. Few artists like to be seen as bumbling human beings; few singers display their paintings, fewer painters appear in a maths Olympiad. But he has been game and that allows India to play the seventh batsman they need to tide over their bowling weaknesses. India don’t have a fifth bowler, that has been known for a while, but they don’t have much of a fourth either. Murali Kartik is a fine bowler short on confidence and Ramesh Powar is a gamble; a flair player picked on an average domestic one-day record. Ganguly will be stretched but it isn’t a script he hasn’t seen before. He will need to use a lot more of Sehwag and I will be interested in seeing if Tendulkar’s quick slow-arm leg-cutters, displayed in Australia, will be used. Most teams that play four bowlers and a part-time fifth, like Australia, ensure that the fielders give them two wickets per match; either through catches and run-outs or by cutting off the singles and forcing the batsman to play a dangerous shot. I suspect that is why India have picked Kaif so quickly. India’s best one-day performances have come when the fielders have been sharp. Sadly there are a few men who labour in this side. Currently India are a high quality catching side but in the field they are at best decent. I hope the fielders and bowlers don’t leave the batsmen too much to do. For all our obsession with this series though, the pressure will be on Pakistan. Unlike India, Pakistanis are much harder on their players in defeat. The idea of awarding luxury apartments in spite of losing a final would not carry much appeal there. The World Cup defeat of 1996 left the players scarred and there was a bit of a witch-hunt after the 1999 World Cup as well. Defeat in this series will be devastating. India must play on that insecurity. India, on the other hand, will encounter solitude; the restrictions will choke them and if the spirit dips, like a wound it will fester in the same environment. For India to win the soothing breeze of fresh thought will have to blow. India will have to be intense on the ground but must learn to relax hard off it. This can never be just another series. But if India can somehow pretend it is, shut their minds off to everything else, they will score valuable points.
