Pakistan v India - the great game to continue – Opinion
The news of resumption of cricketing ties between Asia’s biggest, arch rivals, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and Pakistan this year was certainly good for the world in general and cricket in particular. The two nations who have a bitter rivalry suspended cricketing ties after the
2008 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 terror attacks, which India believes to have been carried out by Pakistan based terror groups.
While many believe that politics should stay away from sports, this is a rare case when it comes to bilateral ties between the two nuclear rivals, who actually depend on cricket diplomacy to ease tensions than table talk.
With the game worshiped in both counties, fans had to live in disappointment after bilateral tournaments were suspended.
However, this year, things are looking bright as India has agreed to play against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. And according to details, Pakistan will be touring India in December for a bilateral tournament.
This series is being looked at as a gateway to normalization of ties between the rivals; however, cricket diplomacy gets thrown out the window when a single shot is fired on the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Nonetheless, many hope that after nearly 60 years of confrontation this patch up will last longer and would change the destiny of the region.
Leaving politics aside, India are in their prime form, while Pakistan, who have a better ODI record are at their lowest ebb with the team failing to show strength under stress.
Pakistan also has major issues of infighting where rumours are that some senior players are not impressed by Mohammad Hafeez’s captaincy.
While http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 is the ODI skipper, his recent record is not impressive, suggesting that either he has become mentally weak or has lost respect of his players.
Practically speaking, it seems Pakistan players are not hungry for victories and while they might say that they always want to give their best performances, their actions tell another tale.
Poor fielding and depleted bowling backed by irresponsible batting has become Pakistan’s biggest cause of demise.
Perhaps, it was wise for PCB officials to first restructure their team before agreeing to send them in harm’s way.
Dhoni XI are certainly favourites for this upcoming extravaganza and if Pakistan do not want to disappoint their fans, they have only a few days to shape up and prepare themselves to face h**l in India.
The Indian crowd would be all set to jolt the Pakistanis once the series gets underway, and the Indian media is sure to point it’s canons towards the direction of Pakistan.
Spot-fixing issues are certainly going to be raised by the Indian media to get the attention of the Pakistan players as it is a sentimental subject for Pakistan because frankly speaking it is not every day that you see your ace players (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Amir-c76675, Mohammad
Asif, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-Butt-c2418) getting convicted and sent to jail for fixing games.
Nonetheless, Pakistan’s former great http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292 while admitting the series would be a test for fire for both teams believes Pakistan could actually win if their fragile batting holds up against the Indians.
"So it would be important for this Pakistan team to handle the pressure well. If they are scared of losing then they can't win. I think if Pakistan's batting clicks then we can beat India in India," said Akram.
Having said that, let us hope that the series would be safe and controversy free for both teams that would bring the countries closer.
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