http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2001-daily/29-08-2001/sports/s1.htm
MULTAN: Pakistan hopes of taming minnows Bangladesh with an all-pace attack received a major dent when Pakistan captain Waqar Younis and his men visited the Multan Stadium here on Tuesday. The team showed up at the newly-built Multan Cricket Stadium hoping to find a grassy strip awaiting it for the opening match of the Asian Test Championship against Bangladesh on Wednesday (today). But what greeted them was an almost brown track with only a hint of dry grass on it and skipper Waqar’s face wore a disappointed look after he had inspected the strip for some time.
“I don’t know how it’s going to behave. I’ve not seen something like this before,” said Waqar. Even constant assurances from the curators Masood Iqbal and Agha Zahid failed to convince the Pakistan skipper and senior pro Wasim Akram that the pitch would produce good bounce over the next five days.
Bangladesh coach Trevor Chappell, too, was surprised. “I was expecting something with more grass and bounce in it. The practice pitch looks better to me.” Indeed the strips on both sides of the pitch that will be used for the Test match were far more grassy and appeared to have a lot of life in them.
The changed situation has now put the Pakistan team management in a quandary. The original plan was to play the four pacers in the squad – Wasim, Waqar, Irfan Fazil and Abdur Razzaq. But till late Tuesday evening the management were debating on the possibility of playing both the spinners – Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Malik – fearing that the pitch might break up later in the match. “I’m not worried because we’ve good bowlers in the side and we are covered in every aspect of the game,” said Waqar. Chappell admitted that it would not be an easy match for his boys. “We go in as the underdogs, but we must give our best and field well and hope lucks favours us.”
He was expecting a pace assault from the Pakistanis in the Test, which would be the first in Multan since the 1981 game against the West Indies at the Qasim Bagh Stadium, he added. That match had ended on an ugly note when West Indian pacer Sylvester Clarke retaliated to some orange pelting from a section of the crowd by hurling a brick onto the spectators, which wounded a youngster.
However, this venue is a big improvement on the Qasim Bagh Stadium and appears to have been modelled on the lines of the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Waqar and his deputy Inzamam-ul-Haq are particularly happy to be playing here as both belong to this area. “It’s a great feeling playing here. I would like nothing better than to give a Test win to the people of this city,” said Waqar.
As expected, the heat was already taking its toll on both the teams and the Bangladeshis were wondering what the condition would be like on the remaining five days. “It’s going to be a tough match. We need this sort of exposure and against such a formidable team. What goes in our favour is that we’ve nothing to lose and only to gain,” said Bangladesh skipper Naimur Rahman. Bangladesh have announced their 12 for the match. The selected team is the same which played the three-day tour game against the PCB XI in Karachi in the run-up to this Test.
Pakistan (from): Waqar Younis (capt), Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Taufiq Umar, Abdur Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Irfan Fazil, Danish Kaneria, Shoaib Malik, Imran Nazir, Naved Latif.
Bangladesh: Naimur Rahman (capt), Khaled Mashud (vice-captain), Javed Omar, Mehrab Hossain, Habibul Bashar, Aminul Islam, Akram Khan, Enamul Hoque, Hasibul Hossain, Monjurul Islam, Mohammed Sharif. 12th man Al-Shariar.