Ganguly and Miandad begin attempts at disintegration

Many psychological battles are raging ahead of India's upcoming tour to Pakistan. While Sourav Ganguly has proclaimed that the Pakistan bowling attack is not as formidable as its predecessors, Javed Miandad and Rashid Latif have delivered counter-punches.

Speaking at a corporate function in Delhi, Ganguly said, "They have a good bowling department. But just being fast doesn't help. They should have quality. The present lot of Pakistani speedsters are not of the class of Wasim Akram who could swing the ball both ways. We have little to worry from them." A few days back Ganguly had gone to the extent of saying, " ... even if we play [at] 60% of our game, we will win the Pakistan series."

But Ganguly has to contend with fierce salvos from the other side. Miandad has never been one to shirk a mental joust and the build-up to the series has him in the thick of things. When asked if the Pakistan team needed a bowling or fielding coach or a psychologist to assist them, Miandad said, "I don't need anybody's help now because I believe no one can perform miracle[s] in such a short time."

Miandad added, "All the cricketers have come through a process and now they don't need training of a preliminary level."

Miandad is not alone in this regard. Latif, the former Pakistan captain, branded the Indian team as "under-achievers". Latif told Mid Day, "They are not the favourites for this series. If you look at their recent record, they have not achieved anything notable in Tests and in one-day internationals, they have choked in the big matches."

And he also said that the Indians, at times, tended to take a negative approach. "You can count the number of occasions when they have bowled out sides twice in a Test. Which is why they have not won many Tests or series. Plus they are prone to playing negative cricket." He spoke about how India did not have the confidence to enforce the follow-on after scoring 700 runs at Sydney, "even though Australia was struggling with its bowling".

"In comparison, look at Pakistan's record. It may be an unpredictable team but it has won more Tests and ODIs in the last four five years simply because it has had the bowling to bowl out sides twice. Secondly, Pakistan has no big superstar but plays like a unit with every player capable of turning in a match winning performance."

He finished with a flourish as he said, "Pakistan has another edge over them [India] -- Inzamam-ul-Haq commands his place in the team on pure performance alone and not simply because he is the captain."