Three times in recent years India have won an overseas Test only to lose the next match in the series and their captain Rahul Dravid is determined that the same thing will not happen next week.
India clinched a historic first Test victory on Pakistani soil earlier this week and when the second Test starts in Lahore on Monday, they will be looking to buck a trend which started in Zimbabwe three years ago then continued in West Indies in 2002 and in Australia late last year.
"It's happened in the past that we've won a match and then not been able to capitalise," Dravid said. "We've been winning tests abroad, but we've not been winning series."
Stand-in skipper Dravid has every right to be confident as India's tour of Pakistan could hardly have gone better so far.
They clinched their first one-day series win in Pakistan after five hard-fought matches and then played almost flawless cricket to win the Multan Test by an innings and 52 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Their strong batting lineup, led by opener Virender Sehwag who scored a record 309 in Multan, is firing on all cylinders and the bowlers are exceeding all pre-tour expectations.
Pakistan, on the other hand, have serious worries.
The pace battery of Shoaib Akhar, Mohammad Sami and Shabbir Ahmed is misfiring while the batsmen have failed to handle young Indian seamer Irfan Pathan's swing and the guile of experienced leg-spinner Anil Kumble.
"Our bowlers just could not use the conditions like the Indian bowlers," their coach Javed Miandad said. "They have to deliver if we're to fight back."
The wicket in Lahore is expected to be grassy and quick in contrast to the flat Multan track.
India will again be without regular captain Saurav Ganguly, who has returned home to nurse a back injury sustained while fielding in the final one-dayer last month.
Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan has also been ruled out with a recurring hamstring problem and his place in the team could be taken by Ajit Agarkar or Ashish Nehra.
Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq failed to make an impression at Multan and has been left out of their squad, while former Test opener Imran Nazir has been brought in to bolster their batting lineup.
Pakistan manager Haroon Rashid said on Saturday that Moin Khan and Shabbir Ahmed were struggling to be fit for the second Test. Wicketkeeper Moin has a groin problem, while paceman Shabbir has undergone tests for a shin injury.
Rashid said young wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal had been asked to help out with training on Saturday because of Moin's injury but the manager was confident that both the injured men would be fit to play.
Comments
Comments are closed.