Inzamam promises aggressive approach

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq promised on Wednesday to adopt an aggressive approach in his 100th Test as his team seek to level the three-Test series against India.

The two sides meet in the third Test starting on Thursday after India took a 1-0 lead in the second Test which ended in Kolkata on Sunday.

"I don't need to stress how important this match is for us. We have to take a simple approach of winning at all costs. We have to be aggressive and positive," Inzamam told reporters.

"I never thought I'd play 100 matches, but tomorrow is the day. If we win it, it'll be extra special. It's not been an easy journey since 1992, but it's been thoroughly enjoyable."

Pakistan have little choice but to rely on Inzamam for another of his match-winning knocks with the bowlers struggling in the absence of pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar and the batsmen failing to deliver under pressure in Kolkata.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly paid tribute to Inzamam.

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"He's a great player, his stats speak volumes for his ability," Ganguly said. "More than 10,000 one-day runs, over 7,000 Test runs and now 100 Tests, there is not much needed to say."

Inzamam, who said the 1992 World Cup win was the most memorable moment of his career and his poor form in the 2003 edition, when he scored just 19 runs, his worst said there would be at least two changes in the side.

FLAT PITCH

Opener Yasir Hameed is expected to come in for Taufeeq Umar and spinner Arshad Khan for left-arm paceman Mohammad Khalil on a flat, brownish pitch which looks good for batting.

"The toss is very important on flat wickets. On this track, whichever team bats first will have a huge advantage," Inzamam said.

India will probably go into the match with the same 11 who played in Kolkata, with Harbhajan Singh available despite being reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for throwing for the second time in three months.

"I think we all need to know where the ICC stands on Harbhajan," Ganguly said. "He's a great spinner with a long career ahead of him and he needs to play without all this pressure."

The Indian captain said his team would not let up even though they were sitting on a 1-0 lead.

"We have to try to win, playing with the same mindset we had in the first two Tests," he said.

If India win the match they will overtake England as the second-ranked team in the ICC Test rankings behind Australia.

Teams (from):

India - Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Dinesh Karthik, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan.

Pakistan - Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Shahid Afridi, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Asim Kamal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Arshad Khan, Danish Kaneria, Taufeeq Umar, Rana Naved.