da bwin： India and Pakistan prepare to go head-to-head for the Friendship Cup in a cold and damp Glasgow
Faras Ghani in Glasgow02-Jul-2007
Shoaib Malik is aware his team are short of match practice © AFP
It may be termed The Friendship Cup and it may be organised by a group ofcharities while celebrating two nations’ 60 years of independence but,when the likes of Tendulkar, Akhtar, Dravid and Afridi emerge from theirrespective dressing rooms on Tuesday, the word “friendship” will surely be forgotten.The teams last met in the scorching heat of Abu Dhabi, where honours wereshared. Fourteen months on, however, the teams assemble in unknownterritory (neither side have played an international matchin Glasgow), in conditions very different to Abu Dhabi (damp and below 20C)and with contrasting run-ups to the showdown.The Pakistan team is severely lacking in match practice. Their lastcompetitive outing was in May against Sri Lanka. Since then, they’ve had atwo-week conditioning camp in order to work on the players’ fitness levelsas well as a few practice matches. Their one-off ODI against Scotland waswashed out on Sunday, depriving them of yet another opportunity togear up for Tuesday’s game.Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s captain, is nervous about facing India for thefirst time at the helm and is also worried about his team’s lack ofcompetitive opportunities. “India obviously have an advantage over us asthey have had the opportunity to play in the last month or so. However, wehave experienced players like Younis Khan and Shoaib Akhtar and theirreturn is a good sign for our young team.”While refusing to comment on the drugs ban issue, Malik welcomed theprospect of seeing Akhtar partner Mohammed Asif with the new ball onceagain. “Both Akhtar and Asif are our best bowlers and the conditions willbe ideal for fast bowling. Hopefully, these two will deliver what isrequired of them.”India, on the other hand, will have their confidence level rocketing aftercoming from behind to hand South Africa a series defeat in Belfast. WhileDravid shrugged off claims of a friendly encounter, the prospect ofplaying in front of a small crowd, as opposed to the cricket-mad ferventfollowing that both teams are used to in the subcontinent, could affect theperformance levels.”Games in Pakistan and India are tense,” said Dravid. “You have huge crowds in Kolkata or Karachi behind you and because there won’t be that big a gathering inGlasgow, things will be slightly different in that aspect.”He also pointed out that the series against Ireland and the matchagainst Pakistan was all about providing young cricketers achance to perform and stake their claim for the series against England.He also confirmed that the team had recovered from the illness thatseverely hampered them in Belfast. “Yuvraj [Singh] had a groin niggleafter our final game against South Africa but he has come through fine sowe have no injury concerns.”Both captains restrained from giving away final line-ups but going by theconditions witnessed in Glasgow over the last few days, swing bowling willbe the order of the day. There has been overnight rain in the city, whichmight cause a delayed start to the proceedings. However, according to theweather reports available, the teams, fans and even Prince Charles will belucky to see a start of any sort.India (from) Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (vice-capt, wk), Rohit Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb BosePakistan (from) Shoaib Malik (captain), Imran Nazir, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Yasir Hameed, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sami.