Pakistan beware, wounded tigers can strike back

India’s exit from the tournament has been a setback for the organisers. In the sub-continent, nothing excites the imagination of the people more thanan India-Pakistan encounter, that too if they clash in the final. But India’s poor performance has not come as a surprise. Pressure, lack of talent, poor planning and indifferent officialdom have all combined to make India a struggling entity even in Asia.

In contrast, the Pakistanis have been a revelation. They always have a bunch of talented youngsters threatening to explode on the world stage with sterling performances. But, somehow, the combination of provens seniors and prodigious new talent has rarely gelled to produce a world-beating team. Dhaka seems an exception and this tournament could well be a landmark of sorts for the Pakistanis given the positive manner in which the team has combined to pulverize the opposition.

Be it the pace bowlers — Mohammed Akram and Shabbir Ahmed — or thespinners — Arshad Khan and Shoaib Malik — Pakistanis are brimming withtalent. Add to this their new-found liking for fielding and you sure have themaking of a formidable team. In the light of their show so far here, theyand not the Sri Lankans, should be the ones favoured to win the Asia Cup.And if they do so, it will be for the first time that they will be winningthis tournament, having failed to do so in the previous five attempts.

Had India been their opponents, one may have already written off the finalas a formality to be gone through but with Sri Lanka it is different. Their recent record is far superior to the Pakistanis, having beaten them in Pakistan 2-1 in the Test series and 3-0 in the One-dayers in March-April this year.

The return of Dave Whatmore as coach has seen the induction of a number ofnew faces in the Lankan team. The no-nonsense coach has been able to inject the team with a spirit and vigour rarely seen in the teams from the sub-continent. On any day, no team can afford to relax against the likes of Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muthiah Muralitharan.

What makes the Sri Lankans very difficult to beat is their panther-like attitude while fielding. The Pakistanis tilted the balance on Monday by doing even better than the Lankans in the field. But that may not be the case tomorrow. When the last Sri Lankan batsman ran himself out in the sparring bout’ yesterday, Whatmore smashed his writing pad on the knees and banged the door of the dressing room in rage.

Pakistan beware, the wounded tiger can strike back with great ferocity.

Teams:

PAKISTAN: (from) Moin Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Wasim, Inzamum-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Abdur Razzak, Azhar Mahmood, Wasim Akram, Mohammad Akram, Shabbir Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Arshad Khan and Shoaib Malik.

SRI LANKA: Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Aravinda de Silva, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardane, Romesh Kaluwitharna, Upul Chandana, Sanjeeva de Silva, Kaushalya Weeraratna, Russel Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Zoysa, Dilshan Tilakratna and Indiaka de Saram.

Umpires: Srinivas Venkatraghavan (India) and A V Jayaprakash (India).
Match refere: John Reid (New Zealand).