Pakistan, India clash in the big battle today

With the stage set for what is their biggest test of the year so far, Pakistan are confident that they would overcome old rivals India in a mouth-watering clash of the triangular series here today (Tuesday) to stretch their winning spree.

Pakistan, who have won their last 12 One-day Internationals on a trot, began their title campaign with a bang on Sunday night, thrashing hosts Bangladesh by 70 runs in a rain-hit match of the series and are now looking forward to get the best of the Indians, regarded as the favourites for the tri-nation crown.

“It would be a big game tomorrow,” Malik told reporters here on Monday. “The guys have played well (in the previous game against Bangladesh), all credit to them and we want to maintain our winning run against India,” he said.

Malik was pleased with the way his batsmen overcame tricky conditions to help Pakistan beat Bangladesh convincingly in the tournament opener on Sunday night. “When we started batting in the first innings, it was very difficult to bat because of the rain and all. But Salman Butt and Mohammad Yousuf batted really well,” said Malik. “I wanted Salman to anchor the innings and he did that.”

Both Butt (70) and Yousuf (59) struck half-centuries in setting a challenging target of 234 against the hosts. Younis Khan, the senior Pakistani batsman, said that his team will have to further raise it game to beat the in-form Indians. “We will have to score over 300 runs against India to be in a strong position because they are a dangerous side,” he said.

Pakistan have won all their 11 ODIs this year so far but all those matches were either against minnows Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. Todayís game against India would be their biggest game of 2008 so far.

For the Indians, the biggest task would be to quickly switch into the one-day mode to snap Pakistan’s 12-match winning streak today. Their coach Gary Kirsten is confident that his team will click against Pakistan.

“India and Pakistan matches are always electrifying. But our players are totally motivated, and the intensity is there to continue the good form in one-day cricket,” Kirsten told a news conference on Monday.

India, severely under-strength because of pre-tournament injury woes, would be in for further trouble as opener Virender Sehwag is a doubtful starter due to high fever. Besides, the team is still awaiting the arrival of pacer S Sreesanth’s replacement Manpreet Singh Gony.

With seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, recovering from a groin injury, and Harbhajan Singh, serving a ban for slapping Sreesanth during the IPL, not in the ranks, it would be anything but easy for Dhoni’s young brigade against Pakistan.

The Indians who arrived in Dhaka on Sunday had a feel of the ground and the conditions at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur and put in three hours at the indoor nets after rain prevented any outdoor practice session.

The short tri-series, being seen as a warm-up for the Asia Cup later this month in Pakistan, is crucial for the Indians as it provides an opportunity for players like all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, spinner Piyush Chawla and Manpreet Gony to show their worth in absence of the seniors.

With the pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium likely to assist the batsmen, India’s new-look bowling attack, to be spearheaded by Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma, will be severely tested. India have the batting strength to score heavily on a strip like this but it remains to be seen how their bowlers contain hard hitters like Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousuf.

The much-anticipated contest meanwhile faces a major threat from the weather gods. The opener itself was truncated because of intermittent drizzle and this match too could see rain interruptions.

As for the Pakistani attack, medium pacers, particularly young talent Wahab Riaz, were impressive in last night’s win over Bangladesh. But with Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif missing from the attack, it remains to be seen how Sohail Tanvir and his bowling colleagues fare against India’s star-studded line-up.

In the batting department, though Butt, Yousuf and Misbah looked in good nick, Pakistan’s line-up still sports a vulnerable look and even Bangladesh, with their limited options in the bowling department, shot them out in 39.3 overs.