The Last Word: There is no joy in the wicket for bowlers

The fact that the two matches have so far been dominated by batsmen will not please bowlers from both sides, but it has certainly provided the viewers with a great spectacle. The pitches are so flat that medium-pace bowlers are cannon fodder for the batsmen.

Even Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, the fast and third fastest bowler in the world, respectively, have found the going tough. As for the Indian pacers, they don't have any assistance from the pitch or through the air, and with the exception of Ashish Nehra who seemed to have gained confidence after his last over in Karachi, they all looked terribly pedestrian at Rawalpindi.

This makes the injury to Nehra even more disappointing for the Indians, and they are making matters worse by getting another medium-pacer, Amit Bhandari, in his place.

Need for a spinner

Slower bowlers, be it the competitive Ramesh Powar or the part-timers, are not being as badly mauled as the Indian medium pacers, so a spinner should have been brought in from India.

The game at Rawalpindi proved to the world the advantage of batting first, and Inzamam would know this better than anybody else. However, just as Pakistan gained some mental strength by running the Indians close at Karachi, the Indians too will gain some confidence and consolation after running the Pakistanis close at Pindi.

So far, I would say that the Indians are batting better than the Pakistanis because they are scoring all their runs against a far superior attack, the Pakistanis on the other hand are capitalising on the weakness of the Indian bowlers.

Going into the Peshawar game, the bowlers will know that there is no joy in the wicket for them. To make matters worse, Pakistan is far hotter this year, than it normally is around this time.

Once again the toss becomes crucial, and the team batting first will have a great advantage. It is a crucial game since neither side will want to go to Lahore having to win two straight games. This means that both sides should get their game plan spot on.

Ganguly will be well-advised to rely more on his slow bowlers. I know it is tough for him to have to cope without the services of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, but Powar looks promising and his part-time bowlers like Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh have not been doing badly.

Enough has been said about the error Inzamam made at the toss in Karachi. He must concentrate on getting some minor details right so that he can get the most out of his batting line-up.

I could not for the life of me understand why he demoted Abdul Razzaq in the last game. He has been in great form over the last couple of months, and even though he came in too late, he was the one who propelled the innings to 329. The other change I would like to see is Inzamam coming in at one-down in the one-dayers.

I have been trying to convince him to do this since the World Cup, but he does not seem to understand his own importance in this batting line-up. I would also like to see Taufeeq in the eleven. Taufeeq is the best young batsman we have, and he must be accommodated.

On the positive side, I am happy with the way the Pakistan captain has been handling his fast bowlers. He is not telling them to cut down on speed in their pursuit of discipline, and this means he recognises the need of both Shoaib and Sami to be attacking at all times, even if this means that they bowl the odd over badly.