Confidence-building measures

After police had charged at disgruntled crowds buying tickets during the one-dayers, it was a change to see only a few dozen at the ticket counters before the second Test at Lahore. According to a report in Dawn, people were saddened by their team's performance, and weren't turning up. But one comment, from a presently disillusioned amateur local cricketer, summed up the feeling: "I have been disappointed from the performance of the team and I will again show any interest for the series if my team stages a comeback."

There's a fifty-fifty chance of that happening, Wasim Akram writes in his column for The Times of India. But first, the pitch should have bounce and carry. Once that's done, all Pakistan have to do is make sure their bowlers use it well. It's the bowlers' ability to move the ball both ways that can make the difference.

By dropping Saqlain Mushtaq, Pakistan have signalled their intent to field four fast bowlers, like the West Indian team of the '80s, Ravi Shastri writes in the same paper. "But to succeed," he continues, "the Pakistan bowlers will have to show control and class like the West Indian greats." He pondered whether the request for a green pitch at Lahore didn't come too late, as the Indians had opened a large gap between the teams in the first Test - on a strip the Pakistani bowling attack didn't look too happy about.

"If the wicket is slow, how can you hit sixes in the third man region?" Javed Miandad comforted Andy Atkinson. According to Atkinson, even Sachin Tendulkar had given him a `thumbs up' for the pitch. Atkinson fumed to The Times of India that even now no one had spoken with him about the kind of pitch they wanted. "And if they lose, then they will come and put the blame on me." He added that Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Sami would move the ball around because they pitched it up, and that the strip would do a bit after the second day.

"It will be faster than the wickets that you have seen on this tour so far. It will afford movement to the bowlers," Shahryar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, said. Though this one would help the bowlers, the last pitch wasn't bad. Pakistan lost not because of the wicket, but because they dropped catches.

"The lack of urgency is pretty evident," Shahryar said, helpfully adding, "Even a non-cricketing person like my wife can see that."

So could Rashid Latif, who attributed the players' listless body language during the one-day series to matchfixing. Rameez Raja was fuming, according to Mid Day. "Rashid only brings up the matchfixing issue when he is not in the team." And then, he turned on Sarfraz Nawaz for his allegations. "Sarfraz must be the most irresponsible cricketer living today. He has been an embarrassment to the cricket establishment for many years."

Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign office had a more novel accusation to deny. The News reported that the Islamic Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alleged that the Test defeat was a gesture of goodwill from Pervez Musharraf, the president, to help Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India's prime minister, win the elections. A spokesperson for the foreign office refuted the claim. "Winning or losing is not part of confidence-building measures."

Javed Miandad had a unique confidence-building measure for his own team. The Nation quoted Miandad as saying, "Some one should hit a six like I did in 1986 to make this contest more even."