The Pakistani selectors have done what they were expected to do and gone by recent form and performances in picking the team for the tour of India. There is optimism in Pakistan that their side, battle-hardened despite a disastrous tour of Australia, will give a good account of themselves against the old enemy. Not an entirely implausible thought, as the Indians themselves proved exactly a year ago.

Despite all the claims from former cricketers from either side of the border that Shoaib Akhtar's absence will not make much of a difference, the fact is that it will. After the retirements of the two Ws of Pakistan, if there is one bowler capable of giving nightmares to the opposition, it is the Rawalpindi Express. It is another matter altogether that he bowls an unplayable spell once or maybe twice a year before breaking down, but then, all those who know their cricket will tell you that it can take one spell to swing a series either way, even more so if only three Tests are being played. He has been the butt of ridicule in recent times, and justifiably so, but he will be missed.

India's task becomes easier with Umar Gul, who bowled Pakistan to that memorable series-levelling win at Lahore in last year's series, still unfit, as is Shabbir Ahmed. That leaves Mohammed Sami to spearhead the new-ball attack with Naved-ul-Rana for company. Naved, as we all saw in the triangular series in Australia, is a great trier, but honestly one can't imagine him giving the Indian batsmen sleepless nights. Remember that horrid double-digit ball over he bowled to Virender Sehwag in the first one-day international last year?
 

Injuries have hit the Pakistanis hard, and the blow is felt most cruelly in the spin department. Saqlain Mushtaq, who took an astounding 20 wickets from the two Tests of the 1998-99 series in India and had the measure of a certain Mr. Tendulkar, would have surely made it had he recovered from his knee operation. Danish Kaneria is a talented leg-spinner, but he could do without the pressures of leading the attack on such a strenuous tour. Arshad Khan, who has been picked in Saqlain's place, hasn't played a Test for four years. He is a decent bowler, but he is to Saqlain what Peter McIntyre was to Shane Warne.

There was a lot that Moin Khan, Saqlain's long-time teammate, did during an eventful and still unfinished career, to suggest that he was a of sorts to the belligerent Javed Miandad. He may not have been as good as batsman as the wily old fox, but he was as committed and canny. A gifted wicketkeeper and innovative batsman who bailed out Pakistan out of many a tight spot, he made a determined effort to stage a comeback with a century in a Patrons Cup match in Karachi last week. But the selectors decided to persist with Kamran Akmal, who has admittedly done very well over the past few months.

Remembering Moin and his stirring deeds against India in Tests and one-day internationals, one can't help but feel that the Pakistani selectors have erred in not picking him for a series that will be played as much in the minds of the players as on the field. Akmal could have been picked for the one-dayers to follow the Tests, where of course, his keeping and batting at the top of the order came in for a lot of praise in Australia.

In Afridi, Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq has the men and resources to give the Indians a hard time in the series, although Youhana will be disappointed to lose the vice-captaincy after doing a decent job while deputizing for the skipper in the Test series in Australia. Imran Khan may have reportedly backed Younis Khan as a candidate for the captaincy, but frankly, have his performances against top sides been as good as Youhana's?

India will start as favourites. But then, they will be playing Pakistan, and strange things have been known to happen when the Pakistani team enters a cricket field. What one knows for sure is that the cricket will be entertaining and exciting, and worth all the trouble and travails of standing in serpentine queues to enter the stadia.

Could the rabble-rousers take a break from provocative statement-making and pitch-digging please? You see, we want to watch some cricket. If the BCCI allows us to, that is!

The team:

Inzamam-ul-Haq - Captain

Younis Khan - Vice-captain

Taufeeq Umar, Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Asim Kamal, Abdul

Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Danish Kaneria,

Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Arshad Khan, Mohammad Khalil.