da betano casino： It’s been just two days since they suffered their second-heaviest defeatin Tests, but India’s chance for redemption isn’t too far away
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at Peshawar04-Feb-2006
Pakistan are all smiles during a training session at Peshawar © AFP
It’s been just two days since they suffered their second-heaviest defeatin Tests, but India’s chance for redemption isn’t too far away. Victoryin the five-match one-day series, starting in Peshawar on February 6,would go a long way in soothing the wounds but India will know that theybegin the contest as underdogs, against a buoyant side that has won 10 oftheir last 12 games.The upbeat Pakistan squad, almost identical to their Test side, trainedfor around two hours at the Arbab Niaz Stadium this afternoon, withInzamam-ul-Haq having a long batting session. Inzamam had missed theKarachi Test owing to a long-term back injury but was expected to don thepyjamas for the opening game here.There was already a buzz outside the ground, with the public lookingforward to the first one-dayer in the city for more then 16 months. Theauthorities at the Arbab Niaz Stadium indicated that tickets were all soldout and close to 15000 were expected to turn up. Recently England hadrefused to play in Peshawar citing security fears and the city has alwaysbeen in the spotlight owing to its proximity to Afghanistan.Ten members of the Indian squad had a net session this morning beforeheading off to visit the Khyber Pass. India’s spirit received a boost withthe addition of four new players to the squad, with Mohammad Kaif, SureshRaina, Murali Kartik and S Sreesanth having a net session in theafternoon.Having been part of the Uttar Pradesh side that recently triumphed in theRanji Trophy triumph, Kaif and Raina would be expected to provide a liftwith their acrobatic fielding along with some handy middle-order runs.Kartik will provide the team with the left-arm spin option and,considering Harbhajan Singh’s indifferent form so far, he might turn outto be a crucial addition.Despite winning eight of their last 12 games, India, as Rahul Dravid hasadmitted, are yet to completely come to terms with the new ODI rules(Supersubs and Powerplays). They will be up against a side that havethrived under the innovations – with multi-dimensional players oozing outof every pore – and can easily have the momentum stolen from under theirnoses.As expected, security arrangements were beefed up for the game, with thefull knowledge that even a minor occurrence could be a black mark. Twodays ago, the local police were forced to -charge angry fans whoprotested against the non-availability of tickets but they will hope thatthe next two days pass without incident.