Seeing red over green

Pakistan believe in pace, India worship spin. And yet, strangely enough, the wicket prepared at Mohali taunts the deadliest exponent of fast bowling, Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar, who nurses a hamstring injury at home.

The greentop at Mohali is on track to acquire a Nagpur-esque reputation. Curator Daljit Singh promises a lot of juice for fast bowlers in the first hour and a half in the couple of days of the Test.

Apart from handing the obvious advantage to whoever wins the toss tomorrow, the pitch does not conform to the basic strength of this Indian team: spin.

Indeed, the word is that the team management — which is said to be pretty upset with both pitch and curator — has opted for a 3-1 bowling attack, which means no room for Harbhajan.

It’s good news, though, for Mohammad Sami and Naved Ul Hasan, who will probably not get a better opportunity to have a crack at the Indian batsmen.

And it’s cheered their captain Inzamam-ul Haq, who at the press conference today applauded the wicket, calling it helpful for fast bowlers but saying there was something in it for the batsmen.

That could also be a bit of wishful thinking because, given the fragility of his middle order, he has to back his batsmen to come good in a series that could well decide the course of his captaincy.

Ganguly knows what that’s all about. Coming off a season that saw him lose more than win, he’s aware of the sword hanging over his head. Talking about his own form he pointed out to an average of 50 in Tests — though he has not scored a hundred since Brisbane in 2003.

‘‘It’s just a matter of converting the starts into big scores’’, he argued.

India start as the favourites — even Inzamam admits that — but beneath the veneer lies the reality that all teams, Australia and Bangladesh excepted, start on an even keel.

Pakistan are quite enjoying the underdog tag and not thinking much about the imbalance in experience between them and their opponents.

Danesh Kaneria believes that if the Pakistan team can block out thefact that they are playing India and plays this match like a club game, the results could be very surprising. ‘‘Pressure ka saara chakkar hai’’, he says, summing up the contest between these two teams.

Inzamam pins a lot of hope on Kaneria who, he believes has been their most successful player over the last two years and he would play a crucial role in the series capable of winning a match on his own.