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Pakistan gearing up for Abu Dhabi battle
17 April 2006
Pakistan is fresh from their test and ODI series triumph over Sri Lanka and India arrived barely 24 hours after completing a convincing 5-1 home win over England for the first ever cricket international to be staged in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was confident of his team to recoup their recent 4-1 loss against India.
“We have had a good series in Sri Lanka. We won both the test and ODI series having come from difficult situations. It shows the character of the team,” said Woolmer after the team’s training session between 3pm and 5pm yesterday.
“Obviously India is not an easy team to beat. They are playing well at the moment but Pakistan has got the type of players to match them in all departments of the game,” added the Englishman.
The match venue was buzzing yesterday with the Pakistan team going through their paces and massive workforce putting the final touches for a grand opening ceremony tomorrow.
The Indian coach Greg Chappell arrived for their allotted training session with the two out-of-form batsmen Virender Sehwag and Mohammed Kaif, and Venugopal Rao, the India ‘A’ team captain for next week’s Euroasia Cup at the same venue. They will have a full steam session this morning.
Woolmer admired the stadium. “It’s a fantastic facility for international cricket. The outfield is nice, the pitch was a bit worn out because of overuse, but this has been put right by the ICC pitch consultant.
“It’s needless for me to elaborate on an India-Pakistan series. These games draw massive interest around the world. The team is in high spirits for the two games and being a historic one, we certainly would like to have our names as the first ever winners at the venue.”
Inzamamul Haq had previously won an unofficial tri-nation competition here at the Zayed stadium that included select teams from Sri Lanka and India in May last year. Several of these cricketers were in that squad and that outing may give them a little benefit of feeling at home.
Uthappa’s performance pleases Patel
Brijesh Patel, who is here for the two ODI’s between India and Pakistan, drew pleasure of his ODI record being broken by fellow Karnataka batsman Robin Uthappa.
“Records need to be broken and I’m glad a youngster from Karnataka did it,” said the former India test and ODI cricketer after his debut 82 against England in the 1974 World Cup was surpassed by Uthappa’s 86 against the same team on Saturday.
“He could have easily converted that into a hundred. That could have been a remarkable achievement,” added Patel. Uthappa fell to a bizarre run out after sharing a 166-run opening wicket stand with skipper Rahul Dravid.
Patel said Uthappa was fortunate to have Dravid as his opening partner. “It makes a lot of difference when any young player has the company of Dravid. Robin has had a good start and he should carry on with it. He’s got a lot of talent and looks an exciting young prospect for India.”
Patel stressed the development officers under former India test and ODI cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar was responsible for the steady flow of young cricketers coming into the mainstream teams.
“These officers spot young talent from all corners in the country and then they are picked to play at the district and zonal levels. These chaps then blossom into the talents we see now,” said Patel, who was director of the National Cricket Association until recently. Patel, 54, was a dashing right hand batsman in the seventies. He represented India from 1974 to 1979 and has a test century to his name against the West Indies at Port of Spain.
