'Important for Pakistan to beat India', says Woolmer

Bob Woolmer, Pakistan's coach, has said that it was important for Pakistan to beat India in the two-match ODI series beginning in Abu Dhabi to regain their confidence. Pakistan lost the recent one-day series at home 1-4 after beating India 1-0 in the Tests. However, they toured Sri Lanka and won the Test series 1-0 and the one-day series 2-0, their fourth win in the last five ODI series.

"Its needless for me to elaborate on an India-Pakistan series," Woolmer told Press Trust of India. "These games draw massive interest around the world. Our team is in high spirits for the two games. We certainly would like to have our names as the first-ever winners at this venue."

Both matches are day-night fixtures and will be played at the Zayad Cricket Stadium which can seat 16,000 fans. It is the second venue in the United Arab Emirates, after Sharjah, to host international cricket matches. The proceeds from the first game will be donated to the survivors of the earthquake that hit parts of Pakistan and northern India.

Since October 2005, India have beaten Sri Lanka 6-1, Pakistan 4-1, England 5-1 and held South Africa to a 2-2 draw, and Woolmer admitted that they would be hard opponents. "Obviously India is not an easy team to beat. They are playing well at the moment but Pakistan has got the type of players to match them in all departments of the game."

India's strength has been that different players have produced matchwinning performances and therefore the pressure on Rahul Dravid in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar has been reduced. The poor form of Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif has been balanced by sterling performances from Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "We need both Veeru and Kaif at their best but I am glad there are others willing to raise their hand for the cause of the team," said Dravid. "We have always had good contests against Pakistan and it should be no different in these two games as well." India had a practice session at the stadium on Monday but were without Greg Chappell who was suffering from an upset stomach.

Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, arrived to watch the first game and several other dignitaries - UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, BCCI President Sharad Pawar and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel - will be present during the match. A host of Indian film personalities - like Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Zayed Khan and Esha Deol - were also expected to be at the matches. Preperations were under way for a spectacular laser and firework, where around 200 acrobats will perform.

India: Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt) Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Venugopal Rao, S Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh.

Pakistan: Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Faisal Iqbal, Abdul Rehman.