No sympathy for under-fire India captain, says Pakistan's Inzamam by AFP

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Player:	Inzamam-ul-Haq, SC Ganguly
Event:	Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 31st March 2005

 

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has warned there will be no respite for his beleaguered Indian counterpart Sourav Ganguly during the upcoming one-day series.

 

"All players go through such bad patches and I will do everything to maintain pressure on him," Inzamam told AFP ahead of the first of six one-dayers here on Saturday.

 

"There will be no sympathy for him."

 

Ganguly's wretched form with the bat was the talking point after Pakistan surprised the hosts with a 168-run win in the third and final Test in Bangalore to draw the series 1-1.

 

Ganguly, India's most successful Test captain with 19 wins, has struggled to justify his place in the team as a batsman.

 

The left-hander's last century came against Australia at Brisbane in December 2003 and he could only manage scores of 21, 12, 12, two and one in five innings against Pakistan in the recent Test series.

 

"I want to capitalise on the pressure. We want to ensure he struggles in the one-dayers too," said the Pakistan captain, who slammed a brilliant 184 at Bangalore in his 100th Test appearance.

 

In contrast to Ganguly, Inzamam led from the front, scoring 401 runs at an average of 80.20 and helped the underdogs pull off a gritty win in the final Test after losing the second match in Calcutta by 195 runs.

 

Inzamam said it was always good if the opposition team's captain was not in good form.

 

"That adds to the pressure. Our one-day record is better and we plan to play positive and attacking cricket," said the skipper, under whom Pakistan have beaten India in the last four one-dayers.

 

Inzamam, however, cautioned his team against complacency.

 

"Levelling the Test series does not mean we will win the one-day series. We will have to maintain the tempo," he said. "I think it will be very exciting cricket."

 

The Pakistan captain was among five frontline players to miss a practice game at Hyderabad on Wednesday in which the tourists scored a facile eight-wicket win over an India 'A' side.

 

Pakistan have brought in seamers Rao Iftikhar Anjum and Shahid Nazir, and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez for the one-dayers.

 

The other matches will be played in Visakhapatnam (April 5), Jamshedpur (April 9), Ahmedabad (April 12), Kanpur (April 15) and New Delhi (April 17).

 

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is due to attend the New Delhi match on a personal invitation from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 AFP)