The good part of this tour is that one does not have to look at past records for previews. The bad part is previews have become harder to write.
India has never won a Test in Lahore, has drawn three and lost one game in 1978. But that does not count for anything with this Indian team, which has surprised even Shoaib Akhtar, who said that earlier Indian teams worried about individual successes but this one plays as a team and competes better than any other Indian team.
Indians are odd-on favourites to win the Lahore Test on current form with their batsmen spending hours at the crease and their bowlers exhibiting monk-like discipline in Multan.
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Rahul Dravid is well aware of this and admitted that it was an area they needed to work on. He, however, said that it was not something that was playing on his or his players' minds.
With curator Andy Atkinson preparing a green top that promises to help pace bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar is hopping around like a kid who's found a box of candies. And finally for the first time in the series we might see the vintage Shoaib Akhtar on show.
Inzamam Ul Haq said that one good spell from his pace bowlers would change the complexion of the game.
After Atkinson revealed that Pakistan skipper Inzamam Ul Haq was responsible for the placid Multan wicket, Pakistani journalists cornered him in the press conference only for him to reply, "Purani baato ko bhool jaye, naye ki baat kare (Forget the past, let's look at the future)."
With the amount of grass on the wicket, the Pakistani batsmen will be a worried lot. For even if the Pakistani bowlers come up with a sizzling performance, the batsmen will have to face Irfan Pathan and L Balaji. With either Ashish Nehra or Ajit Agarkar playing as the third seamer, to succeed on this wicket Pakistani batsmen will need to apply a high degree of discipline.
Dravid summed it up best when he said, "History teaches you that putting the ball in the right areas and making the batsmen play more is the key to succeeding as a bowler."
Dravid said the wicket was firm with good bounce. Inzamam echoed his words and said that it was a fast wicket, which would help his bowlers to level the series. "It is a sporting wicket which will see sporting cricket," he said.
He emphasised that the toss will be important because the movement on the wicket will be for the first two hours of play and his bowlers would try to make most of that period.
For a captain whose team is on a roll nothing seems important other than the confidence and the ability of his players. Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh once said that the toss was merely a way to kick-off play.
Dravid dismissed the importance of winning the toss and said that with his side batting well, he was not worried about the toss. Only when you play on a square turner chasing 120 odd runs on the last day, he said, do you think about the toss.
Never one to throw pompous statements, Dravid said that his team was not here to create history but if during the course of trying to play good cricket they succeed in doing that he would be happy. He refused 'to build castles in the air'.
It's a departure from Sourav Ganguly's warning statement when he landed on Pakistani soil that he wanted to create history.
For India, Ajit Agarkar is most likely to take the place of Zaheer Khan. "Agarkar is bowling well in the nets and we are very happy with the work that he has done after recovering from injury," said Dravid. This kind of a wicket should suit him well.
He also pointed out that Nehra had bowled 50 overs in a Duleep Trophy game a few weeks ago.
There was talk of L Balaji making way for Ashish Nehra though it would be too much of a risk to have two pace bowlers recovering from injuries playing together.
For Pakistan, Kamran Akmal will replace the injured Moin Khan as the wicket keeper. Danish Kaneria is sure to play the Test though the Pakistanis are toying with the idea of throwing in a four-pronged pace attack.
