Heat, humidity to drain players at Vizag ODI

Another Indo-Pak ODI is to be held in excruciating heat, humidity making it worse, writes Atreyo Mukhopadhyay.

The stage has shifted from the west coast of India to the east, but the script remains the same. Another India-Pakistan ODI is to be held in excruciating heat, the humidity making it worse.

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Rahul Dravid and Younis Khan, who substituted for their skippers at the pre-match media session on Monday, were asked if the weather was going to be a deterrent to good cricket. Both said it would make an impact, but that being professionals, they were expected to adapt to it.

However, they felt that the toss is very important. "The team batting first does get an advantage after keeping the opposition in the field for 50 overs," said Younis, who, according to a late development, is unlikely to feature in the match. Dravid spoke on similar lines.

The pitch for the first international match to be held at the Andhra Cricket Association Stadium is unlikely to be different from what one usually comes across in one-dayers these days. The vice-captains couldn't comment on it since the teams practised at the Port Trust Stadium, but locals predicted another battle where the bat will dominate.

Keeping this in mind and the kind of form Virender Sehwag and Dravid have shown, Pakistan may go in with a specialist bowler in place of all-rounder Mohammed Hafeez, who didn't have a bad outing in the first match on Saturday. If this happens, Danish Kaneria is certain to get a look-in.

Meanwhile Younis, who was supposed to play, having recovered from a throat infection, still needs rest, team manager Salim Altaf said. “However, the final decision on the batting order will be taken on Tuesday,” Altaf said.

The Indians, at best, can drop a medium-pacer and bring in Kartik, though that would happen only if John Wright and Sourav Ganguly find something encouraging for the left-arm spinner.

As for changes in their onfield performance, the hosts would appreciate if they could get better in at least two areas. First is Ganguly’s performance and second, their batting in slog overs.

While the nation is losing sleep over the first -- it went unnoticed in the joy of the big win on Saturday -- that the last ten overs produced just 48 runs despite the fact that the hosts had seven wickets in hand, should be equally worrying. This often makes the difference between a winning score and a challenging one and the Indians must remember that 281 isn't a safe total on these pitches against a side like Pakistan, who chased 292 in the BCCI Platinum Jubilee game in November.

"It's not a concern, but definitely its an area that we will touch upon at the team meeting. It can happen sometimes when you are going for runs, but we must ensure that wickets are kept in hand till the end," said Dravid, who ruled out changes in the batting order.

Also, the Indians would do well to remember that Pakistan folded up for 194 mainly due to poor shot selection. As for Pakistan, they would like to see the back of Sehwag early -- they dropped him twice at Kochi before he had reached double figures. Catching, particularly in the slips, has been a big problem for Pakistan.

The visitors have also suffered at the top of the order and tried out four different opening combinations in the four international games on tour so far. Afridi has been the only Pakistani opener to have crossed 50 twice -- in Tests -- and there is a chance that he will open.