Return of Inzi puts Pakistan back at full strength by AFP

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Event:

India in Pakistan 2005/06

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DateLine: 5th February 2006

 

Buoyant Pakistan will be at full strength when captain Inzamam-ul Haq returns for Monday's opening one-day international against India after his recovery from a back injury.

 

"I am fully fit and will play in the match," declared Inzamam ahead of the five-match series after missing Pakistan's 341-run win in the third and final Test in Karachi last week.

 

If Pakistan, who clinched the three-Test series 1-0, win the limited overs series they could secure second spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) one-day rankings behind world champions Australia.

 

Pakistan's series win against India would lift them to a second position from their current third, provided South Africa fail to win the ongoing tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka.

 

"I don't take all these rankings into account but to achieve that we have to play well in all the departments of the game," said Inzamam.

 

Pakistan have won eight of their last 10 one-day matches against India with Inzaman as captain.

 

The home team start as favourites before a sell-out crowd of 15,000 at the Arbab Niaz stadium for the first international cricket match in this northwestern border city for two years.

 

Foreign teams, including England last year, refused to play in Peshawar over security fears due to the city's close proximity with war-torn Afghanistan.

 

Inzamam said Pakistan had gained confidence after the Test series win.

 

"Pakistan has a very slight edge after the Test victory, but one-day cricket is very different so we have to perform on the day," he said.

 

India may miss off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who injured a finger while fielding as a substitute in the Karachi Test.

 

"We might not risk him if the problem doesn't settle," said Dravid, under whom India beat Sri Lanka 6-1 and drew 2-2 to South Africa in one-day series last year.

 

Dravid hoped the criticism his team received for losing the final Test would not affect their performance in the one-day series.

 

"We know the reactions are always extreme, whether you win or lose," he said. "At this level you are well equipped to take all this in your stride and don't let it affect the performance."

 

"We know it's an important series for the future so we will give it our best."

 

Teams (from):

 

India: Rahul Dravid (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sri Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Harbhajan Singh

 

Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Umer Gul, Arshad Khan, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Asif

 

Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS), Asad Rauf (PAK)

 

TV Umpire: Zameer Haider (PAK)

 

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)