The last ten days or so Indian newspapers have been full of views expressed by Pakistanis about the Indian team and its chances in the series against Pakistan. One can understand Imran, Wasim, Javed giving their opinion about the forthcoming series but in the desperation to fill the page every side Ahmed, Ali and Anwar have been chased by the Indian media to give their views, which invariably have boiled down to rubbishing the Indian team’s chances and criticizing the Indian team’s composition. Not that one expected anything different from these ‘experts’ but it would be truly illuminating to find out from the very same Indian media in Pakistan how many, if at all, any of the papers there, are carrying the views of former Indian players about the prospects of the series.
For that matter, how many Indian papers are voicing the opinions of those Indians who have been part of Indo-Pak contests of yesteryear. When are we ever going to get over the overseas complex? One cannot imagine too many Indians being asked to write in Pakistani papers on the current series nor too many Indians invited to be on the different TV channels that Pakistan has.
Even when it comes to the veteran cricket games to increase goodwill between the two countries, the matches are played only in India but never in Pakistan. Have a look at most of the Indo-Pak exchanges, be it sports, cultural, films, musical and its pretty much one-sided with them laughing all the way to the bank, literally.
Most of the former Pakistani players have been promising wickets with lots of grass, suggesting that Indians do not relish playing on such pitches. True there aren’t too many pitches in India with grass and bounce but if one has a look at the performances of India’s batsmen overseas and that of the Pakistanis top order overseas, one will see that the Indians have done far better than the Pakistanis.
It is the easiest thing in the world to walk like one has watermelons under the armpits when playing Indian medium pacers but those very same batsmen walk as if the hair under their armpits is glued together when confronting Lee, McGrath and company. So spare us the pontification about playing pace for India’s batting record against pace is infinitely better than the Pakistanis.
We saw what happened in 1989 when Pakistan left so much grass on the pitches that cows would have had a field day but it was their batsmen who were hopping around to Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar and company.
It’s much the same when there are turning pitches prepared in India when the Indian batsmen also struggle against ordinary spinners from overseas. Look how Afridi got the wickets in the Bangalore Test where India could not bat for the day to save the Test and instead collapsed to lose it and thus allow Pakistan to level the series. So with Irfan and company in the Indian line up means preparing grassy pitches may well backfire on Pakistan as it did in 1989.
There’s also talk about how Shoaib Akhtar is now bowling better and with more discipline as far as line and length is considered. Even in 2004 there was a lot of yapping done about his pace etc and what happened? Sehwag carved him away at will to score India’s first triple century and then the little champion rubbed salt in the wounds by toying with him.
As the Indian captain then had said that they would pull the chain to halt the Rawalpindi Express and so it happened, for the Rawalpindi Express did come to an abrupt stop in the last Test match. In fact, the quicker he bowled, the faster he went to the fence. Don’t forget he was two years younger then and not the ‘Tarzan’ that Andrew Flintoff called him during the Super Series in Australia in October.
Inzamam ul-Haq if quoted correctly, has said that India will find Shoaib too hot to handle. Perhaps he was talking about his own experience with the speedster in the Pakistani dressing room and while acknowledging that Shoaib may be a better bowler after the experience of the last two years, if one goes by the 2004 series then the Indians have little to worry about, leave alone fear, the quickie. One former Indian batsman has been quoted as saying that Shoaib will be dangerous only if he bends his arm, though of course more than that, it will be the straightening of the arm that may cause the surprise element.
All these verbal skirmishes are usually part of any high-profile series but as written before it’s a pity that the Indian media has allowed the opposition to use their platform and then not given the opportunity to the Indians to counter the propaganda. Still by the time this appears in print there should be some indication if any of the statements from the Pakistanis have any substance of truth or like usual it’s a lot of hot air and bluster.
There are three Tests and we will know soon what has transpired. Personally, I feel that more than the pitches it’s the weather in Pakistan at this time of the year that will be a major factor. The cold may not allow the spinners to give the ball the kind of tweak that they like and even for fielding, it’s not always easy to cling on to catches with numb fingers. Still, with finger warmers in their packets that can be overcome to a great extent.
As always an India-Pakistan cricket series promises riveting cricket and that’s one thing that nobody needs to bluster about.
