& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Indo-Pak Showdown Today

Dhoni can't avoid frenzy

Sports Reporter
Dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwagdid not attend yester-day's training session ahead of their clash against traditional rivals Pakistan in the second match of the Kitply Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
Coach Gary Kirsten later gave reason behind Sehwag's absence by saying that the right-hander has been suffering from slight cold. It was however not clear why Indian skipper Mahendra Dhoni kept himself away from the local media even prior to a big match in the tournament. The so-far successful Indian skipper was reluctant to give any on arrival reaction on Sunday but nobody could understand why the popular cricketer skipped the official press briefing in Mirpur.
There were several explanations behind the absence and some even quipped that Dhoni, who enhanced his reputation as a skipper when India claimed the triseries in Australia in their last one-day meet, may be available tomorrow if his new-look side without the likes of Sachin Tendulkar has the
last smile against their bitter rivals.
But undoubtedly Pakistan will also leave no stones unturned to keep their 12-match winning streak intact despite the fact that their bowling attack will be without Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. Surely, they will be in for a test against the strong Indian batting.
Il was also not possible to hear the opinions of Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik ahead of the mouthwatering encounter taking place in Dhaka after more than eight years, as the young skipper did not turn up at the venue for practice yesterday. INDIA (from): MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhlr, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Manpreeta Gony, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Pravin Kumar, R P Singh, Piyush Chawla andPragyanOjha
PAKISTAN (from): Pakistan (from) Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed. Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbahul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Sohail Khan, Umar Gul. Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz, Fawwad Alam, Bazid Khan and Naumanullah
Both sides however preferred two neutral men to comment ahead of the match, may be a dress rehearsal before the final if Bangladesh does not pull off any surprises in their last league match against India, and they were none other than two coaches — Gary Kirsten, a South African and Jeff Lawson, an Australian.
The two foreigners were very much aware of the absorbing intensity and pressure when the two teams meet in any tournament and said that they were looking forward to see how the young players respond in the mammoth encounter.
"My boys are fit and in firing mood to play the match against Pakistan. India-Pakistan clashes always produce electrifying atmosphere but my boys are motivated to play a great match," said Kirsten.
The former South African opener also ensured that it would not be a big task for his charges to adjust with the one-day format after the razzmatazz in the first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL).
"We have a different gameplan and design for the 50-over match, so 1 don't think it would be a problem to transform my boys into one-day from the IPL" said Kirsten adding
SEE PAGE 13 COL 2 FROM PAGE 12
that the young guys selected for the series are very much in consideration in the long-term for the India team.
In their last meeting, Pakistan secured a 31 run victory at Jaipur last year although they lost the series 3-2 but Lawson said that a big and tough task awaits his charge against in-form India to continue the winning run.
"It is a big match because they (India) are in form after winning the series in Australia. In India-Pakistan matches, the pressure is always a big issue and I hope my boys can cope with the pressure in the nerve-breaking encounter to continue the winning spree," said the Australian.
He also dismissed the notion that the Asif controversy dented the spirit of his side as they won the first match against hosts Bangladesh quite convincingly.
The smiling Pakistan coach also said that he and his Indian counterparts could be able to drawing the strategy with cool heads because
they are not involved in the emotions.
"It is an advantage for us as we can give our best because we don't feel the pressure as much an Indian or Pakistani felt," he said.
Interestingly the craze with the two traditional opponents clash was hardly among the local fans before the match and it may have happened because the two teams have played for quite sometimes in the last seven years since the diplomatic ice melted in 2003.
Since then the scenario has also changed in the outcome although Pakistan still are far ahead from their opponents with 66 wins to their credit against India's43in 113 matches since 1978.
India however are enjoying a good record in Bangladesh as they won four games out of six against Pakistan.
It was not the comments or the records but the most important things that revolved in everyone's mind was: Would the rain gods favour the local fans to watch a complete match?