It may be termed The Friendship Cup and it may be organised by a group of charities while celebrating two nations' 60 years of independence but, when the likes of Tendulkar, Akhtar, Dravid and Afridi emerge from their respective dressing rooms on Tuesday, the word "friendship" will surely be forgotten.
The teams last met in the scorching heat of Abu Dhabi, where honours were shared. Fourteen months on, however, the teams assemble in unknown territory (neither side have played an international match in Glasgow), in conditions very different to Abu Dhabi (damp and below 20C) and with contrasting run-ups to the showdown.
The Pakistan team is severely lacking in match practice. Their last competitive outing was in May against Sri Lanka. Since then, they've had a two-week conditioning camp in order to work on the players' fitness levels as well as a few practice matches. Their one-off ODI against Scotland was washed out on Sunday, depriving them of yet another opportunity to gear up for Tuesday's game.
Shoaib Malik, Pakistan's captain, is nervous about facing India for the first time at the helm and is also worried about his team's lack of competitive opportunities. "India obviously have an advantage over us as they have had the opportunity to play in the last month or so. However, we have experienced players like Younis Khan and Shoaib Akhtar and their return is a good sign for our young team."
While refusing to comment on the drugs ban issue, Malik welcomed the prospect of seeing Akhtar partner Mohammed Asif with the new ball once again. "Both Akhtar and Asif are our best bowlers and the conditions will be ideal for fast bowling. Hopefully, these two will deliver what is required of them."
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© Faras Ghani 2007
Published on Cricinfo 2nd Jul 2007
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