Pakistan aim for clean sweep in Sharjah ODIs

Fresh from their whitewash of the truncated Test rubber, Pakistan take on the much-harried West Indies in the first of a series of three one-dayers here today. Regardless of the misery in which their opponents find themselves, Pakistan are unlikely to show mercy.

To make matters worse for the West Indies, Wasim Akram is making a comeback after a lay-off to recover from a hamstring strain to add to the firepower, depth and variety of Pakistan's vaunted bowling attack. So does young off-spinner Shoaib Malik, the duo replacing Mohammad Sami and Danish Kaneria, both of whom have returned home.

For his part, Akram looks lean and hungry, at the venue which found him rejuvenated enough last October to convince all doubters that he could last up to the 2003 World Cup. To further egg him on, he is tantalizingly close to the 450-wicket mark in one-day internationals. Already ahead of the competition by a distance, he needs only four wickets to go past that milestone.

"I've missed quite a bit of cricket, and I am eager to make up for that by taking a few wickets here", said Akram, who was welcomed by the team the other evening as everybody huddled together for a meeting at the stadium before going for practice. They repeated the proceedure on the eve of the match, doing fielding exercises under the lights as well.

That Pakistan are unlikely to let up in their resolve of a total whitewash of this series goes without saying. Coach Mudassar Nazar's statement echoed similar sentiments: "The one-dayers are going to be a different ball game altogether. Since the Windies would be aiming to redeem themselves, we might have a fight at our hands. We at the same time have no intention of resting on our laurels. We intend to improve further - there are so many areas in which I still want the team to do better."

He mentioned fielding as one area where he wants a more disciplined performance by his charges.

Fielding is also giving nightmares to Carl Hooper, whose side floored a mind-boggling 17 opportunities in the field - lapses which cost them dear as the Pakistani batsmen capitalized. If the West Indies can't put up a better show in the field, the Pakistanis will not really be extended in this most happy of hunting grounds for them.

The West Indies, badly missing Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and now Marlon Samuels, who last week underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured left knee, have made only one change in the team which was beaten by 170 and then 244 runs in the two Test matches. All-rounder Runako Martin, a three-dimensional player who bats right handed, bowls at a brisk pace and is a good fielder, replaces Samuels in the squad.

Though both sides are level in overs-limited cricket here, winning an equal number of games out of 16, the Pakistanis are the form team and keen to improve this record in their favour. But regardless of their woes in the longer version of the game, the West Indies too are reckoned to be a better one-day outfit. After their recent drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka, they recovered enough to feature in the three-nation final there, and, as Hooper reminded everyone in a briefing here on Wednesday, the match was a proper contest even though they lost.

"They would be doing us a favour if they [the Pakistanis] underestimate us," said Hooper. While sounding confident of prevailing over his rivals, Waqar too conceded that the Caribbean strokemakers can be a different proposition in the shorter version of the game.

But the Pakistanis are not willing to release their stranglehold on the opposition, and if the West Indies succeed in upsetting their best-laid plans, it would indeed be a surprise.