Pitch could dictate terms

Greg Chappell and Inzamam-ul-Haq voiced their concerns over the pitch at Lahore which has aleady yielded over 700 runs inside two days. Chappell said that it reminded him of the pitch at Faisalabad in 1980 which Dennis Lillee descibed as a bowlers' graveyard. Australia made 617 in 211 overs and Pakistan replied with 382 for two as the match was drawn.

Chappell who scored 235 in that match said at a news conference, "I still think that was the best batting pitch I played on. But I would say this one is 75 percent close to it. It's a good flat batting wicket with not a blade of grass seen on it and I don't think the wicket would change much, but we have to wait and see because there are still 270 overs remaining in the match."

Chappell, however, pointed out that the end result could not be taken for granted. "What I know is that we are under pressure and need to bat well for the next few days to save this Test."

Inzamam-ul-Haq said he feared for a drawn first Test if his bowlers failed to enforce a follow-on on India on the third day. "I know it will be tough for the bowlers because there isn't much in the wicket. But we need to give our best shot because not every day you post a huge score at an average of over four runs an over. We will come out all guns firing and see what happens. But one thing is for sure; we need to grab even the half chances on this track," he said.

Inzamam indicated that Danish Kaneria could hold the key to extract some turn from the surface. "Danish is a lanky bowler who turns the ball. He has improved tremendously over the years and mixes his deliveries well. But he needs to keep a cool head on his shoulders because there would be times when he would be hit against the turn or good balls would be punished severely."

Inzamam was full of praise for his batsmen, especially Shahid Afridi. He said, "Younis Khan played a gem and it was so sad to see him run-out for 199. But Shahid Afridi is someone who keeps everyone on the edge of their seats when he is batting. After he struck four straight sixes, I thought he had a good chance of hitting two more because Harbhajan (Singh) looked confused by then and had again came over the wicket after being struck for two sixes while bowling round-the-wicket.

But Harbhajan is not a bunny and bowled the last two balls intelligently and avoided from going into history as the only bowler to be hit for six sixes."

Chappell added that he had not seen anything else like it. He said, "It's one of the best hitting I've seen. I've seen Ian Botham, Clive Lloyd and of course Adam Gilchrist, but Afridi's innings is up in the top group. No ground is big enough to keep him quiet. Our bowlers tried their best."