Date-stamped : 10 May97 - 14:17 09 May 1997 Pakistan-NZ play Indian opener in sizzling heat By Kishore Bhimani MOHALI, May 8: This is the first time since multi-national one-dayer tournament started that India is hosting one in scorching mid-summer heat. The two World Cups took place either in autumn (1987) or in spring (1992) and the Nehru Cup won by Imran Khan's Pakistan in 1988 at the beginning of the winter of 1988. The two triangular in 1993 and the one in 1994, the Hero Cup and the World Series, were also played as weather was turning cool. Thus Pakistan and New Zealand in their inaugural at Mohali on Friday face temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celcius. Mohali in Chandigarh is in the heart of Punjab, no stranger to Pakistani culture and the visitors from across the border will be well aware that even at night it will be very warm, especially under the lights. Both the teams have had a dramatic start to their current Independence Cup commitments. The Boeing 737 air-headed for Chandigarh was forced to return to Delhi after just 10 minutes in the air with both teams aboard. The engine trouble was soon mended and the feeling in both camps was one of relief on arrival for the big event. Rameez Raja is well known in India as was his brother Wasim, and both are vastly popular. Rameez said on arrival that he had no problems with partisan crowd; in fact it spurred his boys to better effort. About the Kiwi lineup, he preferred to keep silent but did agree with the media opinion that his side would miss Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed. Even so, he felt his youthful and enthusiastic side would not be found wanting. The New Zealanders have come without their strike bowler Simon Doull afflicted with a stress fracture of the back. But over the years they have always weighed in with a succession of accurate, energetic and alert medium pacers. Stephen Fleming has taken over as captain after the removal, sudden and contentious, of Lee German and he has been doing well. Nothan Astle will be at the forefront of the batting as will be Brian Young, whose recent 267 against Sri Lanka was the second highest ever Test score by New Zealand batsman. But the focus of the Independence Cup will surely be on the resumption of rivalry between India and Pakistan all too rare these days and last seen in the World Cup preliminary match at Bangalore in 1996 after a long spell. Significantly, the India-Pakistan match is to be held in Chenai (formerly Madras) which has a pretty near clean record on communal flare-ups and which has a record of taking defeats or even tied test matches in a philosophical vein. As for the other matches featuring Pakistan, they should almost certainly be trouble-free. They play Sri Lanka in Gwalior on May 12 soon after the opening engagement in Mohali. Source:: Dawn (http://xiber.com/dawn/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)