Having been routed by what on paper appeared to be a pretty weak Indian cricket side in a five-match series by a debilitating 4-1 margin in the Sahara Cup at Toronto, Pakistan after gaining a measure of their opponents potential in Canada by emerging victorious in the final encounter, are for all practical purposes on a roll.
Under the reinstated captain Saeed Anwar, the world record Anwar, the world record holder of the highest individual scorer in the instant form of cricket, Pakistan managed to retain their supremacy by winning the first match by a heart-warming five wickets at Hyderabad on Sunday and are not in the mood to relinquish their grip in the second game scheduled here at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
The Indian Captain Sachin Tendulkar told scribes after his team's practice session on Monday afternoon, this city holds a very significant attraction for him. ``It was here that I made my Test debut in 1989 and although I did not make a sizable contribution, I still revere this ground as it placed me on the international stage,'' added the Indian skipper.
``When you lose early wickets the pressure invariably takes a huge toll. And that exactly what transpired in the first one-dayer. We were short of about 30-odd runs and what we actually scored in the finale was just not good enough to get Pakistan to scratch their heads on the victory march,'' said Sachin Tendulkar.
The Indian middle-order batsman Rahul Dravid is suffering from a severe tooth-ache and the other leading batsman former Captain Mohammad Azharuddin has a hamstring problem while Tendulkar has caught the stomach bug.
Nonetheless, all three will be itching to get into the playing eleven on the morrow and India do not contemplate any change in the squad for tomorrow's vital fixture.
The Pakistan Skipper Saeed Anwar told 'Dawn' this evening: ``Of course yes, we are on a winning spree but we will go into tomorrow's game in a heightened state and will not take things easy.''
``All of us are physically in the pink of health and rearing to get into the fray, not to mention that we would like to seal the fate of the series right here,' added the dashing Pakistan opener and captain.
As so often happens, in the limited-overs version of the game, calling correct on the spin of the coin is of immense importance. Whosoever, gains 'Dame Fortune's' favour has more than a starting option of calling the shots.
The strip seems to be more than ideal for a one-day international and a tall scoring contest with all the thrills and spills for an expected all-ticket 34,365 capacity terraces should be on the cards.
Head-to-head Pakistan and Indian have clashed on 59 occasions in one-day internationals with Pakistan clinching 35 victories todate. On home soil the two teams have played 13 matches with Pakistan winning nine matches, losing only two while the other two have ended without a result.
As things stand now, Pakistan in all probability according to the law of averages should continue their winning spree.
The match is slated to begin at 9:30 in the morning and all arrangements for an incident-free encounter have been completed. Those who want to make the stadium their destination tomorrow morning should harbour no misgivings about any security risk and go with an open mind to enjoy a good game of cricket.
The teams:
PAKISTAN from: Saeed Anwar (captain), Shahid Afridi, Ijaz Ahmed, Salim Elahi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Hasan Raza, Moin Khan (vice-captain/wicket- keeper), Azhar Mahmood, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed, Mohammad Hussain, Shahid Nazir and Mohammad Wasim.
INDIA from: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja (vice-captain), Robin Singh, Saba Karim (wicket-keeper), Rajesh Chauhan, Abey Kuruvilla, Nilesh Kulkarni, Debaishish Mohanty, Vinod Kambli, Harvinder Singh and Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
UMPIRES: Salim Badar and Mian Mohammad Aslam.
TV UMPIRE: Riazuddin.
MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).