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Not India but Australia the team to beat
After Adam Gilchrist, it is the turn of his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Youhana to downplay the significance of clinching a series win in India.
After Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, it is the turn of his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Youhana to downplay the significance of clinching a series win in India.
Gilchrist had said at the start of the season that, unlike his former captain Steve Waugh, neither he nor his teammates saw conquering the 'Final Frontier' as the be all and end all of their cricket.
And now, it is the turn of the Pakistanis to echo a similar view.
Skipper Inzamam-ul Haq said on the eve of the three-day tour opener here that they would like to extend their horizon and look beyond the series against India, and that he would rate winning against Australia as a better achievement.
His deputy Youhana is in perfect agreement with him.
"The point is Australia are the world champions. I have not seen a better team. Before them, it was the West Indies. So winning against them (Australia) is naturally a big achievement," Youhana said.
The pendulum in the Indo-Pak contest has always oscillated from one side to the other. If under the leadership of Imran Khan, Pakistan had a stranglehold over the Indians, the latter have had a better record to show in the new millennium.
India's World Cup record against their archrival has been impeccable but Youhana had a different take on the whole issue.
"India and Pakistan head to head record in Tests and one-dayers has been 50-50," he said. "We have won the last four one-dayers. But there is no point in looking at the past, we have to look ahead," Youhana said.
"We have to remember that there was no cricket for a while (in the 1990s). We had a good team at that time and wanted to play, but India did not want to, for whatever reasons.
"Last year when India came, our team was in a rebuilding process. Even now ours is an inexperienced side, and the Indians are strong."
