Settled batting but bowling worries remain

Around three months back, Rahul Dravid led India to a one-day series triumph, thumping Sri Lanka, then the second-best side, by an overwhelming 6-1 margin. Captaining a young side that was still reeling from the Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly episode, Dravid appeared to be blessed with a golden touch - averaging 156 with the bat and seeing almost every tactic come off spectacularly.

A drawn series against South Africa followed but it's from tomorrow that he will embark on his stiffest captaincy test to date. The team will still be smarting from the thumping defeat at Karachi and a couple of players, who had a lean time in the Tests, are bound to be under pressure to bounce back. There have also been whispers circulating about dissension in the ranks and victory, as Dravid will know, is the best antidote to silence all.

A bruise to his spinning finger meant that Harbhajan Singh didn't bowl on the eve of the game and Dravid admitted that the team wouldn't risk playing him if he wasn't fully fit in the morning. India were likely to go in with Murali Kartik as the lone spinner with Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth making up the medium-pace trio. RP Singh and Zaheer Khan had some impressive bursts in the Test series but India may leave them out for want of more variety in their attack. The batting had a settled look about it with either Gautam Gambhir or Suresh Raina tipped to occupy the Supersub role.

Inzamam-ul-Haq had no qualms in admitting that the surface at the Arbab Niaz Stadium, along with the rough nature of the outfield, could produce a "high-scoring game". India may be tempted to go in with five specialist bowlers but they may just prefer to place some faith in their part-timers, hoping they can share ten overs around and limit the damage.

The Indian side preferred to train in the adjacent Gymkhana Ground, simulating match conditions and Dravid spoke about the benefits of such methods. "We thought we'll give a chance for the bowlers to try out specific lines and set fields accordingly. We can't do such things at the nets. It adds a bit of realism to the whole practice session. We get a clearer idea of where the ball is going on impact and where to set fields. It's good to try it out once in a while."

The highlight of the session was the innovative field settings that one observed with Mahendra Singh Dhoni shifting from wicketkeeping to first slip to short square leg. Other fielders were also shuffled around with each bowler sticking to a particular line.

Ever since his superb hundred against Pakistan at Ahmedabad in April last year, Sachin Tendulkar has struggled. Barring the dazzling half-centuries against Sri Lanka in October - when he cracked 93 and 67 in successive matches - Tendulkar hasn't crossed 40 in 10 of the last 12 games. A failure in each of his three innings in the recently concluded Test series - when he didn't come to terms with Shoaib Akhtar's pace - intensified the pressure and even emboldened headline writers to ask 'Endulkar?'. The next five games may give the answers but one needs to be mighty brave, or mighty foolish to write off his highness, especially at the start of a series that means so much.

India (probable) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Murali Kartik, 11 Sreesanth, Supersub: Gautam Gambhir.