Wasti set to make his debut in the Asian Test Championship (16 February 1999)

16 February 1999

Wasti set to make his debut in the Asian Test Championship

Samiul Hasan

CALCUTTA, Feb 15: Wajahatullah Wasti makes his debut on Tuesday when history will be written at the Eden Gardens with the start of the Asian Test Championship match between Pakistan and India.

Wasti, who made a pair in the three-day tour opener at Gwalior, impressed the tour management with scores of 28 and 88 at Kochi last week. However, it was not yet decided who will be making the way for him. According to sources in the team, Wasti will either be replacing Inzamam-ul-Haq or Salim Malik who are nursing injuries. Malik was struggling with a hamstring injury while Haq knocked his head into the roof of the bus late Monday evening when Pakistan arrived here from Kochi.

"Inzamam is in pains. But we are confident that he would be playing tomorrow," Pakistan manager Shaharyar Khan told Dawn at the picturesque Eden Gardens. Haq, when he was boarding the bus at the airport, miscalculated the height of the roof "and was really hurt badly. He was rushed to a local hospital for precautionary x-ray . Everything is fine," the manager added.

Sources, on the condition of anonymity, said if Inzamam-ul-Haq passes the fitness test on Tuesday morning, Salim Malik would sit out. "Similarly, if Inzamam is not able to play, Salim will be included.

"In any case, Wajataullah Wasti is making his debut on Tuesday," sources said.

While Wasti's debut looks inevitable, it has still not been decided where he would bat. Selected as an opener for the tour, the openers slot has been justified by Shahid Afridi with Saeed Anwar as his partner. This means that Wasti might bat at No 3 and Ijaz Ahmad being pushed back to No 4.

Pakistan, looking at the hard and green pitch, are also expected to include Shoaib Akhtar in place of Mushtaq Ahmad who has flown back after a recurrance of neck injury. "We are having a team meeting later in the evening. But I don't think the team would be finalized," Pakistan captain Wasim Akram tod this correspondent.

There was also a suggestion to pick Azhar Mahmood in place of an absent Mushtaq Ahmad which would bring more stability in the batting in the absence of either Malik or Haq. However, the only objection being raised against Azhar Mahmood was that he is not a strike bowler as Shoaib Akhtar.

India, on the other hand, are also considering the possibility of making a change in the team that beat Pakistan by 212 runs at New Delhi last week to level the series. Uncapped fast bowler Laxmi Ratan Shukla and off-spinner H. Kanitkar were being considered for selection ahead of Harbhajan Singh. However, the final decision would be made in the morning.

The stage is set for a perfect finale to the tour of the India as Eden Gardens gives a gorgeous look with lush green but quick outfield and good track which is expected to assist any one who applies himself.

More than 100,000 spectators can sit here and the organizers are optimistic that it would be a sell out. The indications of a sell out was evident later in the evening when a group of cricket enthusiasts staged a protest claiming that they were not getting tickets as they have been purchased by the black-marketeers.

Captains Wasim Akram and Mohammad Azharuddin, in their pre-match conferences, once again emphasised that the match should not be considered as a series deciders. They stressed that it was a different tournament and should be considered that way.

Akram was specially delighted that there would be third country umpires in the Test. "I am very happy that there will be third country umpires because I strongly feel that in matches involving Pakistan and India, there shouldn't be a home umpire. It is going to be a very interesting experience for both the teams to play under third country umpires."

Akram emphasised that the boys were geared up for the Test. But his claims were suspected in the background of revealations of the depositions made by the Pakistan players in the betting and match-fixing investigations and published here by a leading English magazine.

"We are concentrating on cricket. As far as betting and match-fixing is concerned, I have left it back home. Similar is the case with the rest of the team though it is difficult to play in conditions where negative stories were being published. The stories can demoralize the players but the boys have so far shown mental toughness. Let's see if they can sustain it for the next five days," said Akram.

Pakistan coach Shaharyar Khan said: "I don't think the morale of the team would be affected by the story. These type of stories have surfaced in Pakistan in the past and what I see is that the team is united, focused and backing each other."

This ground is particularly a happy hunting venue for Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. He has scored five centuries out of six times he has played here. He made his debut here in 1984 and then succeeded in safeguarding his career and captaincy by stroking 182 against England in 1993 after being dropped on the third ball before opening his account.

"I like to play here, there's no doubt about it. But I don't enter the ground with a specific target in my mind. I just go out there to try and this would be my objective again," Azharuddin said.

The Test would be the revival of the battle between world's best batsman and world's best bowler - Sachin Tendulkar and Saqlain Mushtaq. So far Saqlain has won five battles out of six with Sachin Tendulkar. "Sachin Tendulkar is a great batsman and I enjoy bowling at him. I feel elated whenever I get his wicket but for me he is just another batsman. I don't try to do something extra and I think that's why I have picked his wickets five times," Saqlain Mushtaq said.

While the Pakistan top order would be under pressure after being due for some big runs, pressure will certainly be on local hero Saurav Ganguly also who is known here as Prince of Calcutta.

As far as the format of the Asian Test Championship is concerned, Sri Lanka are the third team in the competition and play their opener against India at Colombo between Feb 24 and 28. Sri Lanka's second game will be against Pakistan at the Gadaffi Stadium between March 4-8 with the final slated at Dhaka from March 12 to 16.

There will be points system in this competition with a maximum of 20 points at stake. There will be 12 match win points while bonus batting and bowling points will also be awarded after 100 overs of the first innings. According to the playing conditions, 90 overs will be bowled in the day and if the light was fading, floodlighted would be switched on and will remain open until the overs were not completed.

Teams (to be selected from)

Pakistan - Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Wajahatullah Wasti, Ijaz Ahmad, Yousuf Youkana, Moin Khan, Wasim Akram (captain), Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Salim Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Nadeem Khan, Arshad Khan, Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Naveed Qureshi.

India - Sadagoppan Ramesh, Venkatesai Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Saurav Ganguly, Nayan Mongia, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, H.Kanitkar, Harbhajan Singh, Laxmi Ratan Shukla.

Umpires - Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Rudi Koetzer (South Africa)

Match referee - Cammie Smith (West Indies)

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)