Media is every where these days and so are favorites. A couple of months back, Eng was favorite to win in Pak, Pietersen was bigger than life and Shoaib was a finished person. England lost, Shoaib was there and Pietersen was already back home.
Same will go as India will be here. A lot of stars are shining, some waiting for a sunset.
“Stars shine after sun sets”.
[Quote=Intikhab Alam]
Beware of Shoaib
[/Quote]
[Quote=Akram]
The advantage of pitches is with Pakistan, they have a transformed Shoaib Akhtar who can rock the Indians on hard pitches,…With his pace and accuracy Akhtar can target any Indian batsman, and more so Sourav Ganguly
[/Quote]
[Quote=Moin Khan]
Ganguly’s comeback could put him under undue pressure
[/Quote]
Fast and Furious
[Quote=Akhtar]
There is no reason why we can’t beat India
[/Quote]
[Quote=Sehwag]
I am confident of making good scores
[/Quote]
Expert-corner
[Quote=Wasim Akram]
Pakistan should prepare bouncy tracks against India
[/Quote]
[Quote=Imran Khan]
Pak favorites to win against India
(Imran was one of those persons who criticized Inzy and PCB for labeling Eng as favorite. He always trusted on his fast bowlers and he still does)
[/Quote]
Victories weaken the spirits (as it was the case with Eng), and both India and Pak are at their best spirits and victories have created a hell of stars out there. Both teams have flaws that can haunt then in their way.
[ul]
[li]Leaving Akhter apart, Pak does not have any fast-bowler (or even medium-pacers) to perform (exceptionally well) in a Test match.[LIST][/li][li]Shabbir was known to shine time-to-time but he can’t play.[/li][li]Rana is a fighter and he will definitely take a few wickets in each Test match he will play but what if Shoaib totally fails?[/li][li]Sami has forgotten to bowl.[/li][li]Razzaq is not much effective in Tests.[/li][li]Umar Gul can be called, but not seen him for long.[/li][li]The youngsters can be put in action but that is a bet.[/ul][/li][li]Indians are well-known for their abilities against spin. Kaneria might not be as effective against Indians as he usually is.[ul][/li][li]Afridi can perform but he too is not much regular.[/li][li]Same applies to Malik, who is not as successful with his bowling.[/ul][/li][li]Fortunately Pak has improved with batting a lot. The expertise of Yousuf and Inzy and the ability of Younis to play big innings, combined with youngsters and Afridi is quite trustable.[/li][li]As an ending mark Pak is captained by a person who deserves this position and is respected by all members and nation.[/LIST] [/li][ul]
[li]For India the biggest problem is Captaincy.[LIST][/li][li]Dravid is not a good Captain in my opinion, though he has lead India to (recent) victories.[/li][li]Sehwag, might be an option for future but too early for him to lead.[/li][li](“Dada” is a natural Indian captain) :)[/ul][/li][li]Ganguly is doubtful of having chances in Test matches. He can play all or even none. Though he failed against Pak last year, but he will put his best to perform now. His presence on the field will make any Indian captain un-comfortable, though.[ul][/li][li]The other trio of Indian legends (Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag) include 2 players who are well-known for their abilities to hit big scores in Test-matches that end-up as draws or with results against India.[/li][li]Sehwag is a player who was (and is) most likely to win matches for India when he performs.[/li][li]Now with some new striking-force(s) available, he will not feel alone.[/li][li]Laxman is another excellant batting option.[/ul][/li][li]As for bowling, Singh and Kumble can spin well and they can trouble a few bats in Pak.[/li][li]India has variety of medium pacers at their disposal, which can shine, time will tell.[/li][*]Part-time bowlers (just leave Keeper and Dravid) will be there to play there role for India, and at times they have caused more damage to Pak than the regular ones.[/LIST]Overall Pak has the advantage of pace in form of Akhter, while India has a very strong and solid batting line-up. The likes of Ganhuly, Laxman, Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar, makes up a batting line-up that is very hard to beat (on paper, at least). Some people will say Pak has a strong batting line-up as well, yes that’s (partially) true, but only when it works. Indians have a proven batting line-up and only Aus might have claims of being better.
