All to play for

"I've never seen so many policemen in my life," said a local shopkeeper as I made my way past bamboo barriers, fortified steel gates and police keeping watch on every corner around Green Park in Kanpur, where India and Pakistan will play the fifth one-day international of the six-match series tomorrow. They have every reason to be watchful. The local arm of the Shiv Sena - a political party not known for peaceful protests - recently suggested that they would make their presence felt.

Inside, business was frenetic, as the day preceding a major event tends to be. There was chaos around the stairs as a press conference was announced. The media hustled Rahul Dravid and Younis Khan, crowds swamped around the net area, and right in the middle of a circle of green, inspected by men in teapot poses, was a pale pitch, devoid of any colour. But the wicket, for which questions of the day are usually reserved, found itself upstaged by Sourav Ganguly's six-match ban. Will he play or won't he? Dravid appeared undisturbed: "We have not been intimated about it. We're preparing as normal." Later, a team member said that Ganguly was in Kolkata, so perhaps he would not be playing. Dravid spoke about the series now resting on two days, about how it was a task the team was eager to undertake: "It's a great challenge. The team's looking forward to it. I hope to get support from the squad."

The pitch then did garner its proper share of attention. "The pitch appears slow," answered Younis when asked for his opinion. "It's difficult to predict," said Dravid. "There will be some low bounce, though not much help for the fast bowlers."

Even so, Dravid expects the bowlers to apply themselves with more verve than they did at Ahmedabad, where Pakistan finally achieved the first successful run-chase of the series. Both he and Younis said that batting first would be preferable, though Dravid thought the pitch would behave the same throughout the match. If Pakistan won the toss, he said simply, India would have to restrict them by getting past the more accomplished batsmen. "Their top order has done well. Inzamam [ul-Haq], [Yousuf] Youhana [and the others] have hurt us badly."

Younis added Shahid Afridi to that list: "Shahid is playing well. He hits 30-40 runs in 15-16 balls." It was his primal batting that got Pakistan going at Ahmedabad. "The boys are playing well," he summed up, and with regards to Pakistan being front-runners now, added: "When you play well, you win." That was the underlying theme of Dravid's talk with the press, too. "We'll have to score big runs and play good cricket for 100 overs. We've played well in patches previously. We didn't bowl or defend runs well. We've learnt from some of the things [we did wrong]. Sometimes it just comes down to utilising skills better."

Dravid was reminded that India have not won a major one-day series at home for nearly five years. He smiled and said, "We believe we can do it. We have the players to do it." Dhoni was one of those players, he suggested, but he needed to perform consistently. "He has to play a lot more. He has talent and has shown good cricket sense. He has the capability to do it." Asked if Dhoni's arrival came as relief for himself, Dravid said with a grin, "The team is relieved, the [opposition] bowlers aren't."

Conditions, as they are in India in the awkward months between winter and the monsoons, continue to remain oppressive. And Kanpur, already regarded as a hot-spot for pollution, is more uncomfortable these days as it becomes hotter. But Dravid played down the weather, saying that there were only two more games to go; it could not be used as an excuse.

Both teams were guarded about the team composition, though Younis inadvertently gave an insight into Pakistan's likely team: "If there are no injuries, there are no changes." But the Indians had more to contend with after back-to-back losses as well as Ganguly's possible absence. There was the likelihood of Dinesh Mongia playing, and though Dravid said he was one of a few options, he acknowledged that Mongia's bowling would be as important as his batting. Anil Kumble could also make the cut on a pitch that might assist slow bowlers.

Ticket queues at 5am - as there were today - tell a story. A press card starts cricket conversations and debates with strangers in unlikely places. It wins you smiles. There's a language being spoken here, one that has no need of words.

India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Dinesh Mongia, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Lakshmipathy Balaji, 11 Murali Kartik.

Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Yousuf Youhana, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.