'It's not a game of speed' - Inzamam

Inzamam-ul-Haq has urged Shoaib Akhtar to not get too carried away with the battle for pace with Brett Lee but concentrate on getting his rhythm right. Pakistan open their VB Series campaign against Australia at Hobart tomorrow and Akhtar could play a crucial role in getting them off to a good start.

Lee rocked the West Indian batting line-up in the first game of the VB Series yesterday and his 3 for 36 helped Australia post an emphatic 116-run win at the MCG. Akhtar, who repeatedly reveals his desire to be the fastest bowler in the world and the match at Hobart could see the speed-gun coming under severe scrutiny.

Inzamam, despite saying that the Lee-Shoaib pace showdown was an exciting prospect, wanted Akhtar to get a good rhythm going on what is expected to be a batting belter. "His main thing is to concentrate on line and length and how he performs, and not his competition on speed," Inzamam told AAP. "It's not a game of speed, he's [Shoaib] definitely the world's fastest bowler, but the main thing is line, length and swing."

Pakistan have also persistently suffered throughout the tour owing to their slow over-rate and Australia A were awarded six bonus runs in the Twenty20 game at Adelaide. Inzamam admitted that Akhtar's long run-up, another hot topic of discussion all summer, made it hard for his fellow bowlers to get through their overs quickly, but he confident his side would complete their overs in time and avoid penalties. "Because Twenty20 is very small, that's the problem," Inzamam said. "Shoaib bowled four overs and we had very little time to cover this ... but in 50 overs we'll try really, really hard and hopefully we'll cover that."

Pakistan tried out 15 players in their two warm-up matches against Australia A and they planned to announce the final XI in the morning of the game. The batting order has constantly been shuffled around and they had two different opening combinations in the practice matches. Shoaib Malik, the allrounder, was expected to play but he would not be allowed to bowl after his action was reported to the International Cricket Council.

Inzamam was upbeat about his team's chances and added, "The boys are really geared up and they've really worked hard and hopefully if we put some runs on the board and our bowling is also very effective ... if we make 260, 270 runs, I think it will be a good game."