Barely a day after imposition of Emergency, Pakistan renew their cricketing rivalry against arch-rivals India with a five-match One-day series here on Monday with two young captains leading a highly talented but unpredictable teams.
Six months ago, India and Pakistan were coming to terms with their early World Cup exits. All seemed to have been forgotten when, a little over a month ago, they battled for the World Twenty20 title. Then Australia came to India and South Africa to Pakistan. And both sides are back to learning from their mistakes. It's these glorious cycles that grips both nations.
The political turmoil back home would no doubt weigh down heavily on Pakistanis' mind as they go into the first One-dayer seeking to take an early advantage in the battle of nerves and skills.
The series will also be a test of character for the captains Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India and Shoaib Malik of Pakistan, who have shown a remarkable composure but any contest involving the traditional foes is bound to put that extra bit of pressure.
Surely it allows the teams to understand each other, as evinced by the camaraderie this evening. Once both sides finished warming up, Harbhajan Singh and Shoaib Akhtar, standing close to the pitch for close to 20 minutes, seemed to be discussing life, the universe and everything. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Yousuf greeted each other like long, lost brothers. And Sourav Ganguly couldn't get enough of watching Sohail Tanvir's wrong-footed action. Such dosti.
India would also be without their senior batsman Rahul Dravid, their batting main stay so far who has been dropped for the first two matches of the series.
With the talks of 'phasing out process' in the Indian cricket, other two ageing warhorses Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly would also be under pressure as the hosts would rely on their strong opening partnerships. The seasoned Virender Sehwag would also be keen to regain his old magic, particularly as his inclusion in the team in place of former skipper Dravid triggered lot of a debate.
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Come back for the live action tomorrow at 03:30 GMT, 09:00 IST and 19:30 PST from the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Guwahati.
Njoi...
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