India tour a litmus test for Woolmer

The Pakistani coach needs some quick results on the field to silence the growing calls for his head.

Coach Bob Woolmer faces a litmus test on return to his land of birth as he guides Pakistan on their first full-fledged cricket tour of India in six years beginning on Monday.

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Woolmer, born in Kanpur the same year when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, might have nothing to prove after transforming South Africa into a world beating side in the 1990s and the art of coaching with his laptop savvy ways.

But the former England Test batsman and South African first-class cricketer needs some quick results on the field to silence the growing calls for his head after the team's recent disastrous showing Down Under.

Woolmer, however, was stoic in his expectations of the 50-day tour when Pakistan play three Tests and six One-Day Internationals against their arch-rivals.

"For me, the importance of this series is to keep improving and hopefully get the right results because of it. My growth as a coach will not be dependent on the results but my growth as a coach is about finding ways of means of making players do better," the 56-year-old said.

Woolmer believed that despite the home advantage, Pakistan would start the series on equal footing with the Indians.

"The home team always starts off as a favourite. It always happens this way. But there will be a lot of pressure on the Indians to do well. We can go there and surprise them.

"I am looking forward to a good tour. Like any Test series, I think, the two teams will start equal. The best side on the five days will prevail."

Woolmer, who replaced Javed Miandad in June last year, has yet to guide Pakistan to a series win which has encouraged his detractors to call for his head.