Pushed into a corner after two successive defeats, Pakistan face a do-or-die battle when they take on arch rivals India in the third One-Day International in Jamshedpur on Saturday, hoping to contain the rampaging hosts with a new bowling combination.
The visitors are planning to include leg spinner Danish Kaneria, who was quite successful in the Test series, in the team to provide some variety to the bowling attack, which has been torn to shreds by the likes of Virender Sehwag and M S Dhoni.
After comprehensive victories at Kochi and Visakhapatnam, India look unstoppable with most of their top batsmen in full flow and the bowlers finding rhythm.
But the hosts can by no means take their opponents lightly, with the Pakistan team famed for its ability to turn tables on rivals when pushed to a corner.
India coach John Wright said as much.
"Pakistan will come back hard at us. We need to play to our full potential and retain our form to get a favourable result."
An Indian victory on the morrow at the Keenan stadium will ensure that the hosts cannot lose the six-match series, and this is bound to put additional pressure on Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul Haq and his men.
"Naturally, when you go 0-2 down in a six-match series, you come under pressure. You know that if the opposition wins one game, they cannot lose the series while you are left to win all the three matches to square the series," Inzamam said.
"But I have not lost heart. I know the capabilities of my boys and would continue to back them to perform. Instead of thinking negative, I am thinking that if we can win four straight matches last year (against India), we can do it again to win the series," he said.
Inzamam can take heart from his side's past showing at the ground, where they have finished winners in both their matches. In 1987, Pakistan gave a five-wicket drubbing to India, before pipping Sri Lanka by nine runs in 1999.
In contrast, India's record at the 24,000 capacity stadium is dismal. India have won only one out of the seven matches they played, losing five while the other one was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Both sides are set to make changes in the squad for the first time in the series.
India are likely to bring in medium pacer Ajit Agarkar in place of the injured Laxmipathy Balaji, who has a rib problem.
Pakistan is likely to rest paceman Mohammad Sami and replace off-spinner Arshad Khan and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez by wrist spinner Danish Kaneria and middle-order batsman Younis Khan. Fast bowler Rao Iftikhar Anjum could find a spot in the team in place of Sami.
The inclusion of Younis Khan, who had done exceedingly well in the Test series, is likely to give more stability to the Pakistan batting line-up, that suffered at Visakhapatnam as promising partnerships failed to blossom into high-scoring ones.
Any discussion on the Indian batting has to begin with Sehwag, whose exploits with the willow have left cricket pundits dazed.
Having plunderd 726 runs from 874 balls in the three Tests and the first two one-day matches against Pakistan at an amazing strike rate of around 80, Sehwag must be hungry for more as he seems to be in the midst of a dream run.
M S Dhoni's blistering 148-run knock at Visakhapatnam, combined with his good glove work, has raised hopes that India's search for a wicket-keeper batsman may finally be over.
While interest centres around whether he will again be asked to come in at number three, it is now up to the man with the flowing mane to show consistency and drive home the message that he is no one-match wonder. And what better stage than the Keenan for the Ranchi-based Jharkhand player, who would be playing before his home crowd for the first time.
For skipper Sourav Ganguly, whose place in the squad hangs by a slender thread after a prolonged dearth of runs, a victory tomorrow is important not only for the sake of the team, but also for stalling all talk for his scalp.
Following up the pathetic 48 in five Test innings at a painful average of 9.6 with scores of 0 and 9 in the one-day series, Ganguly seems to be endangering his place in the side day by day, and might have already got the axe had he not been the skipper.
Another batsman who has failed to fire so far in the series is Sachin Tendulkar. After a rare ton-less Test series, Tedulkar has not exactly crowned himself in glory through miserly knocks of 4 and 2 in the two LOIs and the ardent admirers of the master blaster would be hoping that his bat starts doing the talking to silence the critics.
But India are not free from problems. Other than the poor performance of Ganguly, the failure of the middle order batsmen, specially the two mainstays Yuvraj Singh and Mohd. Kaif, to go for the slog in the end overs despite getting perfect launch pads for a late assault in both the previous matches causes concern.
Pakistan, on the other hand, were well-served by Abdul Razzaq and Yousuf Youhana in Visakhapatnam. But more than individual sparklers, what the visitors need is a team effort with two or three long partnerships.
Teams (from):
India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Ajit Agarkar and Dinesh Mongia, Lakshmipathy Balaji.
Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzak, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhana, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Rao Iftikhar Anjum and Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Arshad Khan and Mohammad Hafeez.
Hours of play: 9 am to 12-30 am; 1-15 pm to 4-45 pm.
