BANGALORE, 24 March 2005 — Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, playing in his hundredth Test, is optimistic that his team already one match down in the series may sign off with a victory in the third and final Test to level the series.
From a personal point of view he would also be aiming to make it memorable not only for his team but also for himself with an innings to remember.
Today when the final match gets under way Inzamam, who made his Test debut for his country in 1992 at Edgbaston in Birmingham, will go with a positive mind as a leader of his team. “We are down but not out. Losing or winning is part of the game, I do not mind losing but what I really pray for is that we play well in this Test and get a result. A win is what I would love to have to level the series,” said Inzamam.
Only the second man to get over 10,000 runs in Tests after Sachin Tendulkar, the second highest run maker in Tests for Pakistan after Javed Miandad and only the fourth to reach the landmark of playing hundred Tests for his country after Javed Miandad, Salim Malik and Wasim Akram, Inzamam at 35 has seen the best and the worst of Pakistan in the last 14 years and weathered many a storm.
He is certainly not going to be overawed by the occasion at the start of the final Test in which, like Steve Bucknor in the second Test, he is to be honored for reaching the feat. He will however be focused much more on the job ahead, the Test in which he would be expecting every one of his teammates to perform in top gear. No less.
He is likely to make a few changes in the side that played in Calcutta. It is almost certain that opener Taufiq Umar will have to sit out to make way for Yasir Hamid and unimpressive medium-pacer Mohammad Khalil, who remained wicketless, will also be dropped to include Arshad Khan the off spinner from Peshawar who had a successful season in domestic cricket. He can bowl tightly to stop the run flow from the in form Indian batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Virendar Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
Pakistan in three Tests here in 1979-80, 83-84 had drawn their games and in 1987 recorded a victory by 16 runs to win their first and only Test series in India. In the last eight Tests at this venue at the Chinaswamy Stadium seven had produced results and another result is a big possibility. India is likely to play the same team as in Calcutta. It is highly unlikely that Indian captain Saurav Ganguly will make any changes. His bowlers have served him well especially local hero Anil Kumble, who had a haul of ten wickets in India’s 195 runs win.
Another local star Rahul Dravid, who made his 20th Test hundred at Calcutta and a century in each innings, will be the one who will be desperate to make a hundred here on his home ground. He averages less than 20 in six Tests that he has played here and will try and make amends for the previous failures at this venue. He will have no shortage of supporters on this ground that is expected to have a capacity crowd of 35,000. “I would love to win this Test to win the series. It will be one big bonus for my team,” said Ganguly.
India (from): Virendar Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, V.V.S. Laxman, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Yuvraj Singh, Asish Nehra, Mohammad Kaif.
Pakistan (from): Shahid Afridi, Yasir Hamid, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Asim Kamal, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami, Arshad Khan, Naved-ul Hasan, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik.
Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ), Simon Taufel (Aus), Referee: Chris Broad (Eng).
