By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Gwalior : The historic city of Gwalior in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, ruled by the Scndias in the yesteryears, is all geared up to stage the fourth match of the ongoing One Day International, (ODI), cricket series between arch-rivals India and Pakistan here on Thursday.
The Roop Singh Stadium, the venue of the much awaited-duel, is all spruced up for the crucial day-night tie. The buoyant Indians leading 2-1 will try to put their best foot forward to wrap up the match and take unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five encounter ODI series.
The Indian batting has specially clicked well with Sachin Tendulkar’s continued good form while Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh also shining with the bat on various occasions in the three matches played in the series so far. Yuvraj, who scored 58, 34 and 77 in the three ODIs, has emerged as a major threat for Pakistan due to his superb timing and knack to switch on and off his attacking instinct to suit the team’s needs while Tendulkar, after repeatedly falling in nervous 90s, would be desperately looking to break the jinx about his 42nd century.
Dhoni talking to media said Yuvraj’s all-round abilities were important for the side.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on the other hand would resist bitterly India’s juggernaut from rolling to leave them high and dry. They would fight it out tooth and nail to keep their hopes alive by squaring the series 2-2 here.
Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, whose tenure as the captain, has been extended by another year would be under pressure to avoid another series defeat after losing to South Africa at home.
Malik would be looking at his options to stop the hosts even as Pakistan would be contemplating whether to play their out-of-form wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who is said to have aggravated his finger-injury at Kanpur, or give Sarfraz Ahmed his ODI cap.
The young Pakistani skipper would also hope that opener Salman Butt continues with this sparkling form and lay a firm foundation for a big total.
Malik reacting with newsmen said: “Salman (Butt) is playing just superb cricket. We want him to continue the way he is batting at the moment,” he had said after the opener’s 129-run knock in the Kanpur ODI.
Malik also admitted that his team lacked in the fielding department saying “we need to work hard on it”.
Meanwhile, the two teams went through the net practice for over three hours. The fans had lined up on the road from outside the hotel where the teams are staying.
With the curator declaring the pitch as a batting track and promising a high-scoring game the spectators can look forward to a run feast with the pitch curator.
Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association’s Chief curator Samundar Singh Chauhan said he has prepared a perfect batting wicket for the match and any score around 280 would be chaseable.
“It’s a perfect batting track because I believe people want to watch exciting and high-scoring matches,” Chauhan said.
“The wicket will not deteriorate much and any score around 280 will not be difficult to chase,” he said adding “there will be little role for spinners in the match.”
“There is light grass on the surface but we are rolling it down to turn it into brown. Actually, we do not want sideways movement otherwise the match will be a low-scoring one.”
Meanwhile, India have won six out of the eight matches it has played here. The defeats include a 73-run loss to the West Indies in 1988 and 69-run defeat at the hands of minnows Kenya in 1998.
India and Pakistan cricket teams had received a warm welcome in Gwalior on their arrival by a chartered plane at 4.20 pm on Tuesday.
The district administration has beefed up security ahead of the ODI to be played between the arch-rivals in Roop Singh Stadium on November 15.
In the run-up to the cricket match, administration and police seem to have decided to make the one-day event successful at any cost. The police are keeping close watch on the stadium and adjoining area extensively.
Armed forces have been deployed at the hotel for security. Inspector General of Police DS Sengar is himself conducting the security operation.
Meanwhile, Gwalior District president of Shiv Sena and in-charge of the Gwalior division Narendra Singh Tomar has said that his party activists would not allow Pakistan to play on the soil of Gwalior.
Demanding that the one-day international cricket match between India and Pakistan, scheduled to be held on November 15, should be cancelled, failing which, he warned, party workers would stop the match.
However, another group of Shiv Sena led by Ram Bharatiya said in a Press conference that the Shiv Sena was not opposing the India-Pakistan cricket match in any way. “The Shiv Saniks, who are apposing the ODI are not the members of Shiv Sena,” he added. ([email protected])