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Inzi fighting fit, battle begins today

Reuters
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Posted online: Monday, February 06, 2006 at 0615 hours IST
Updated: Monday, February 06, 2006 at 0626 hours IST
PESHAWAR, February 06: Inzamam-ul-Haq Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has recovered from a nagging back injury and will take his place in the opening one-day international of the five-match series against India on Monday.

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"I am okay now and I will be playing in the first match," Inzamam, who missed last week's test series-clinching victory against India, told a news conference on Sunday.

"I have batted in the nets for a long time without any back pain."

Pakistan go into the match with a clear edge over their rivals having beaten them eight times in the last 10 one-dayers, but Inzamam insisted his team would need to work hard to keep their winning momentum going.

"Statistics count for nothing on the field and India have some good young players," said Inzamam, who has played 351 one-day internationals and scored 11,141 runs.

"We will have to play well to beat them, despite having just won a test series that has created a confident atmosphere within the team."

India return to the Arbab Niaz stadium for the first time in two years and organisers have sold all 15,000 available tickets, hardly surprising considering four of the Pakistan squad are from the northwestern frontier province.

Inzamam added that his players were getting used to the super-sub and powerplay rule changes implemented in the one-day game and hoped to utilise them to good effect.

Pakistan is expected to promote wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal to opener after he scored two hundreds against England in the one-day series in December and another two against India in the recent tests.

India's batting line-up could be altered to use Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar as openers with captain Rahul Dravid reverting to his normal number three position.

PLAY WELL

Dravid said that his side were not concerned by a poor recent record against Pakistan and regarded the one-dayers as a chance to rebound from the disappointment of losing the test series.

"To achieve a win we have to play well in all departments of the game," he said.

"We respect the opposition as they are performing well, especially in their own conditions, but we will try to learn something from our recent meetings and put up a strong fight."

Dravid said there would be added pressure on his bowlers to perform well against batsmen who had been in terrific form in the tests.

India go into the series with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh a minor doubt and will wait until Monday morning before making a decision on his participation after the player injured his right index finger while fielding.

After Peshawar, the teams will play in Rawalpindi (February 11), Lahore (February 13), Multan (February 16) and Karachi (February 19).

Squads:

Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Rana Naved, Umar Gul, Arshad Khan.

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

 
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