Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer is setting his batsmen an almost impossible task — to ignore the crowd at Eden Gardens in the second cricket Test against India.
Kolkata crowds are renowned for being boisterous, with several visiting captains rating the stadium — with a capacity of 100,000 — as the world's noisiest cricket venue.
Given the fierce rivalry between the South Asian neighbors, a big, vocal crowd of pro-Indian fans is expected to flood into Eden Gardens when the second Test starts on Wednesday.
And Woolmer doesn't want his batsmen to be overawed — especially after salvaging a gritty draw last weekend to open the best-of-three match series.
"The batsman can not allow the crowd to get on his mind. One's got to learn to switch off and concentrate on what he has to do," Woolmer said on Tuesday.
South Africa's Jacques Kallis, after scoring a century in a Test against India four months ago, said that he'd found it difficult to focus. And the ground wasn't even full for his innings.
Woolmer has endured the Eden Gardens experience as a player for England in 1976, as a coach of South Africa in 1996 and again as Pakistan's coach for a one-off limited-overs international last year.
"It's a big ground — people make a lot of noise," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"It's a big ground — people make a lot of noise," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"The passion of the crowd can be gauged by the fact that 30,000 people turned up at the ground in 1976 when England needed just 16 runs to win on the final day of a Test match," said Woolmer.
Woolmer was part of England's series-winning squad in '76, although he wasn't in the starting XI in Kolkata.
He's ventured back twice as coach, for two wins.