A mixture of injuries and poor form may have left the Indians unsteady on their feet, but Sourav Ganguly's men are hoping to put up a superlative performance against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy Pool C encounter in Birmingham on Sunday.
India is battling the poor form of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh and is still trying to come to grips with the injury-induced absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Laxmipathy Balaji ahead of the decisive against the arch-rivals, who have the momentum going their way in recent weeks.
India has lost to Pakistan in both Sri Lanka and in Holland in this new season and it will take an outstanding effort to turn the tables on their traditional opponents tomorrow.
Indian captain Ganguly left for the European tour believing his side has rarely done badly against the arch-rivals outside the sub-continent but the Pakistanis seem on a revision course.
Pakistan's talent was never in question but the disparate elements in the team were their worst enemies. Now that it has been taken care of by new coach Bob Woolmer, the results have started to come thick and fast.
Their strongest weapon remain their fast bowling ranks, which is seen as the biggest threat on pitches in autumn in England.
The pace quartet of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Abdul Razzaq and Naved-ul-Hasan can reap rich rewards with the white ball on pitches which are beginning to offer generous help to seam and swing in these final days of summer in England.
If that was not enough, the two spinners -- Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik -- are fresh from their success against Kenya and remember too vividly what they did to the Indian line-up in Amsterdam.
The two spinners of contrasting styles picked up eight Kenyan wickets for 26 runs between them at this very venue earlier this week. In Amsterdam, the two had seven wickets for 38 runs bowling together against India.
Aiding their cause is the poor form of the Indian batsmen who, as recent tournaments have shown, either strike form collectively or lose it together and only a superlative performance by the top order batsmen can cover up the deficiency of the Indians.
India is also indecisive whether to play Rohan Gavaskar or Dinesh Karthik at the number seven spot. The indications are that the left-hand batsman would be preferred over the wicketkeeper in the final eleven.
It would also mean that Rahul Dravid would return to now his familiar dual role of batsman-cum-wicketkeeper.
India is also unsure whether to go with two medium-pacers and two spinners or stick to the three plus one formula for its bowling combination.
If indeed it decides to go with three fast bowlers tomorrow, Amit Bhandari could be pushing Ajit Agarkar for a place in the eleven.
Pakistan, in contrast has embarrassment of riches. Both their batting and bowling run deep and they have players who can perform more than one role for the team.
The batting line up is deep enough for Abdul Razzaq, one of the most fearsome hitter in world cricket, to come at number eight. In bowling they have at least six bowlers who can bowl their full quota of 10 overs.
They also are flexible enough to field either Imran Farhat or Shahid Afridi as opening partner to Yaseer Hameed.
It is very much on cards though that Afridi could come at the top of the order to snatch early initiative away from the Indians.
Having said that, both captains -- Ganguly and Inzamam-ul-Haq -- would like to win the toss and put the opposition in keeping in mind the seamer-friendly conditions in the first hour or so.
The new ball has been seaming a lot in England and the outcome of the match could largely depend on how the opening batsmen cope with the conditions and handle the first 15 overs.
The city is on fire in anticipation for tomorrow's match and everyone is hoping that rain would stay off and the game would live up to its billing.
Every single seat was sold out within two hours of opening of sale two months ago. The scalpels and the black marketers are selling a 35 pounds sterling ticket for 500 pounds in the black.
Teams:
India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Rohan Gavaskar, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari and Ajit Agarkar.
Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Imran Farhat, Yaseer Hameed, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Moin Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Naved-ul-Hasan.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (SA) and Simon Taufel (Aus)
Third umpire: Steve Bucknor, Match referee: Clive Lloyd
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