Teams expected to adopt cautious approach

India are one up, at Multan they opened their account in Pakistan. But having been hailed as the team that would depose Australia some day soon, lone victories may not do. If Team India is to finally embark on the habit of winning series abroad, they will have to add to that early lead.

For Pakistan, it is a question of saving the series. And they seek assistance from curators and their own bowlers.

At Bareeze sales assistants have been quick to get a measure of Indian tastes. At smart Lahore’s cloth emporium of choice, visitors are immediately ushered to pastels appropriate for this early summer. On Pakistan’s Test grounds, they have been somewhat slower. It has taken an entire five-day match for the groundsmen to figure what conditions India thrive in.

There’s more than a day yet for the toss at the Gaddafi stadium, but the view at the moment would thrill naturalists. Out in the middle it is believed to be a green carpet! It must be enough to throw Shoaib Akhtar into gleeful fits of anticipation. This, after all, is the ground where he felled Gary Kirsten last year.

The 22 yards of difference lies covered as Indian cricketers turn up for nets, and the media pack circles around the rectangle sniffing for grass or dust in the absence of any visual confirmation.

Pakistani fast bowlers and Indian batsmen. That has forever been how the rivals have been cast. In 1954 that was how A H Kardar predicted the clash. And that’s how it was sold this time. Multan was first refutation of this simplistic equation. And Pakistan captain has given it hot-tempered burial. In his latest column, he writes that his bowlers are over-hyped.

All this talk of Indian batting and Pakistani bowling, in fact, he says has gone to their head. It has distracted them from their control, from the simple task of bowling straight.

Lahore, incidentally, has a longtime reputation for draws. Next week, a tendency by both sides to be cautious, watchful, and defensive would be understandable, given the high stakes and charged emotions. But in Ajaib-Ghar, the two teams must know, is housed the Starving Buddha.

The soul-stirring second century exhibit is said to be a warning against excess, it is said to be a statement on the merits of the middle path.

And the middle path in Lahore for the cricket would be best served by largehearted strategies and straight bats.