Intense Encounter, Not for Weak Hearts

“Bigger than the Ashes” says former Australian pacer and present Pakistan Cricket team coach Geoff Lawson. Hearing that from an Australian who played a part in six Ashes encounters will tell you how intense India-Pakistan Clash is all about. Termed as ‘Mother of all encounters’, ‘Clash of two titans’ and more recently ‘Cricket war with no weapons,’ Indo-Pak series will make every heart beat to its rhythm.

The resumption of bilateral ties between the two rivals in 2004 and the frequency of playing against each other, certainly will not take away the prominence of this series. Try drawing a graph between emotions of the fans and tides in the Indian Ocean, you will not find any variation when the series is on.

India-Pakistan series has always been a defining and deciding series for many cricketers. And this series will be very much the same, especially from India’s point of view. The Indian team has been at the apex and nadir on world cricket at different times this year. They have managed to do the unthinkable twice; first, the first round exit in the World Cup and secondly, winning the Twenty20 World Championship at South Africa. Since the T20 triumph, there has been a huge debate over who should be in and out of the team. The senior pros have been under tremendous pressure to score big to keep their places in the team and the youngsters are ready to make every single chance count.

Last few months Indian cricket has been clouded by uncertainty with selection committee going nowhere with their vision. The players are feeling insecure and its growing rapidly with every sitting of the selection panel. The recently concluded Australian series has provoked the situation even more with the team lacking to put up a fight.

In such a situation, Pakistan tour will be of much importance in constructing the road ahead. With Rahul Dravid already in the sidelines for the first two ODIs there will be enormous pressure on Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. On the other hand, there are the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath waiting to grab their slots in the ODI team.

Sachin Tendulkar who made a mark in international cricket against the same opposition nearly two decades back will once again have to depend on this series to regain supremacy and silence his critics. Ironically, in 1989 he was drafted into the team at the expense of experienced Mohinder Amarnath. Once dropped Amarnath never played a test again for India. This time around Sachin might find himself in such a situation. Same will be the case of his opening partner Sourav Ganguly for whom fitness has always been a question.

Every time these two teams lock horns, it has been a battle between India’s batsmen and Pakistan’s bowlers. It will be no different this time. Pakistan will definitely miss the service of Mohammad Asif. Asif with his wily bowling has always troubled Indian batsmen ever since he made a comeback into the national side when India toured Pakistan last year. His four for in the second innings at Karachi settled the match for Pakistan as well as the series 1-0 in their favor. Since then, Asif leads the Pakistan’s pace attack.

That tour also defined a match winner in India’s RP Singh. Singh who made his test debut in Faisalabad bowled with good pace and bounce and control in a dead pitch, managed to climb four wickets in the first innings and five in the match ultimately earning the man of the match award.

Shoaib Akhtar, though doesn’t deserves to be in the team for his attitude, might be the difference between the two teams with his extra pace. Pakistan also has a decent batting line-up with Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik bolstering the middle order. Salman Butt who has been in and out of the team has always been a certainty when playing against India. Butt has three centuries in his career and all of them have come against their rival team.

On the other hand, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his deputy Yuvraj Singh will be leading batting charts this time. Yuvraj has been in sublime form since the T20 show and will be the backbone of Indian middle order in the absence of Rahul Dravid. Dhoni is another example of players who defined their careers in an India-Pakistan series. In 2004-05, after scores of 0, 12, 7 and 3, he became an overnight hero when he was promoted to number three, smashed the Pakistan bowlers around the park for his 148 in just 123 balls. His average against the rivals is also very healthy compared to his overall average.

Virender Shewag making a comeback into the team also serves special when it comes to playing Pakistan. He is the only Indian to score a triple ton in test cricket and that came against Pakistan. He also has another score of above 250 against them in the longer version and he is in long due for a big one yet again.

India and Pakistan have so much in common, the culture, language, food, and the passion for the game. The battle between the two teams had always been intense and the history says it all. How can one dare to forget the Javed Miandad frog jump, Amair Sohail – Venkatesh Prasad encounter in 1996 World Cup Quarterfinal, Miandad’s last ball six of Chetan Sharma, the bat and ball contest between Sachin Tendulak and Abdul Qadir in 1989 or even the most recent T20 bowl-out as well as Misbah-ul-Haq’s miscue at the hands of Sreesanth in the final.

A history, which has seen epic battles setting one nation in frenzy while the other morns. No doubt, cricket fans across the two nations will be glued to the television sets throughout the series. It doesn’t get any bigger than this!