Pakistan rue missed chance and lost time

An Indian selector watching the proceeding was, however content to see the top order Pakistan batsmen play loose shots on day one. ‘‘Most of them were playing across the line. Do they really think they will succeed with this approach?’’ he asked.

One Pakistani player admitted that his team did not bat to potential in the game but added that they were merely treating this game as a warm-up. ‘‘We just wanted to get some batting practice and some time in the middle. Our preparations for the Test are in place’’, he said.

But deep down he knows, as does the team, that the bad weather in Dharamshala has robbed them of useful practice before the Tests begin. None of their batsmen got a second chance to get a knock in the middle after learning the nature of the wickets that await them in Mohali, Kolkata and Bangalore.

So, what was the logic in hosting the first match of such an important and high profile series in Dharamshala? Skipper Sourav Ganguly has already fired the first mental missile at the Pakistanis by questioning the choice of venue for the practice match and expressing his surprise that the Pakistan team accepted the venue without taking the weather into consideration.

That has riled Anurag Thakur, president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association. ‘‘Sourav Ganguly has never seen the stadium’’, he said today. ‘‘So he can say whatever he wants. It is for the BCCI and PCB to decide the venues. We have conducted Duleep Trophy and Ranji trophy matches here. So we qualified for this match.’’

He added, though, that if the match was held on the original scheduled dates — February 25-27 — it would have been sunny throughout.

‘‘The present weather disturbance is all over north India and these three days were scheduled for Mohali so the first Test of the series would have been disrupted too’’, he said.

The Pakistani camp is not very happy with the decision but team manager Salim Altaf was pretty tame in his reaction to the time lost in the drawn encounter. ‘‘The itinerary was proposed by the BCCI and agreed to by the PCB. And the local people say that this weather here at this time of the year is unprecedented.’’

The players weren’t so blase. ‘‘I am surprised that our security team did not visit Dharamshala. Rain, bad light and hail today have just not allowed us to try out a few things we would have wished to try here.’’

He also adds that it is very important for the bowlers to get a long spell in the middle so as to get a feel of the wickets and understand the kind of length they will have to bowl on Indian wickets.

(With Sangeeta J)

Who’ll stop the rain?

In the absence of decent cricket, all conversation focused on the poor weather; indeed, it was tough to separate fact ferom fiction.

But fact was that HPCA president Anurag Thakur climbed the steep Indru Nag, on whose peak is said to reside the local deity, in a bid to stop the rain. After a 2-km trek, Anurag performed a puja there on March 2, so as to invoke the blessings for favorable weather. It didn’t work…

What could have worked, say locals, was if the Dalai Lama had indeed inaugurated the match, as planned.

— Sangeeta J