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India tough nut to crack: Moin
Chalking game plan against India will be tough, said former Pak captain. He also cautioned about the 'Ganguly' factor.
India's coach Greg Chappell has made it difficult for his Pakistani counterpart Bob Woolmer to chalk out game plans against his team because every Indian batsman today is now capable of batting at any number, says Former Pakistan Captain Moin Khan.
"It would be interesting to see how Woolmer counters that ploy during the India-Pakistan series," Moin said in an exclusive column for the Press Trust of India.
''The other point that would be interesting to see is if Chappell and Rahul Dravid are brave enough to throw their batting order surprises against Pakistan," said Moin, adding that "It can become very tricky and can also backfire."
"Needless to say people have short memories in these parts of the worlds and past achievements can easily go down the drain by just one mistake".
Moin believes that experimentations mean that it becomes extremely difficult for any captain to see Mahendra Singh Dhoni coming out with Virender Sehwag to open the innings instead of a more conventional pair of Sehwag and Gautam Ghambir, with Irfan Pathan following at one-down instead of Rahul Dravid.
Moin warned that In view of the relationship between Chappell and Ganguly, how Ganguly is treated will be very critical.
"Ganguly is the only captain to win a series in Pakistan. Now Ganguly's presence in the dressing room can be destructive and might disintegrate the team if he is not treated with importance and not given the respect that he, by all means, deserves."
Moin said it will be very interesting to watch how the Indian team management handles the situation if it decides to prefer Wasim Jaffer or Yuvraj Singh over Ganguly. "Chappell's role again becomes important. But trust me, this Ganguly factor is extremely sensitive and crucial!"
He cautioned India that while "Sehwag is entertaining but at times poor and the Indian team would prefer to rely more on Dravid rather than Sehwag". He said he was "not at all questioning the talent of Sehwag but he is definitely not the man to trust as he is more like Shahid Afridi".
