Mohali is a happy hunting ground for the Pakistanis as they have a cent percent record against India, having won both the ODIs played here between the two Asian giants.

One of the reasons why Pakistan have a better record against the Indians at Mohali than any other venue in India is that the playing conditions generally favor them.

The Mohali pitch is perhaps the liveliest in India and provides sufficient assistance to the seam bowlers both in terms of bounce and pace. Pakistan have almost always enjoyed a better pace attack than India and will once again be taking the field against the home team for their World Cup semifinal on March 30 with a potent bowling arsenal that includes — Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul — two of the tournament's most successful bowlers.

The good news for Gul, who has emerged as one of the most lethal fast bowlers at World Cup 2011, and fellow pacers Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq is that there are expectations that the ball is expected to seam here in the semifinal, especially under the floodlights.

With two days to go in the match, there is still plenty of grass on the wicket.

"At the moment there is certainly a lot of grass on the wicket here," Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan manager, told 'Arab News' here on Monday. "But it's a bit too early to assess the wicket. We will have to wait till a day before the match to see the exact nature of the pitch," he said adding that he is expecting that some of the grass will be retained for the match.

However, according to Daljeet Singh, the curator of PCA Stadium, it will be a typical Mohali track offering good pace and bounce. "It will seam under the floodlights," he said.

Singh said that the strip to be used for the semifinal will be the one that was chosen for the Group B match between India and Ireland.

Dew has been a bit of a problem at Mohali, which is why Singh and his staff have stopped watering the ground three days ahead of the mouth-watering clash.

In spite of all the bounce it is expected to offer, Singh is expecting Wednesday's match to be full of runs. "We have prepared the wicket according to ICC guidelines which suggest that the pitch should generally be batsmen-friendly." Wednesday's semifinal will be the first day-night game of World Cup 2011 at Mohali, which has so far hosted just day games in this tournament. But generally dew is a factor when playing under lights with the team batting second benefiting from it.