Pakistan chooses Chennai for the showdown and Kapil calls on Team India to stop crying and get ready to do or die!
Preetam Jha
Feb. 7, 2005

With Pakistan averse to playing in Ahmedabad, a Test encounter during its upcoming tour of India could be shifted to Chennai. BCCI is expected to discuss Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) letter expressing their "inability" to play in Ahmedabad, with the Union Home ministry and take a decision soon considering the security aspects, sources said on Sunday.

The Indian Government and the cricket board are set to be against making it a prestige issue, they said. On basis of report given by security assessment team that recently visited India, the PCB has written to the BCCI expressing there inability to play in Ahmedabad because of the apprehensions over law and order situation in Gujarat, which witnessed one of the worst communal riots in 2002 post-Godhra violence targeting Muslims.

The Pakistan board had also expressed its preference to play in Chennai, the venue where the team got a standing ovation even after India's defeat during their last 1999 tour. The PCB team had also not preferred Bangalore because of the distance between the playing venue and the hotel where team would be staying.

If Sachin Tendulkar is not able to play against Pakistan in the coming home series due to an elbow injury, others should "share the burden" and not "sit and cry" over his absence, says former India captain Kapil Dev.

Asked if Tendulkar's absence would be a disadvantage for India in the series starting on February 25, Kapil told IANS in an interview: "Well, with a player of his caliber, definitely (yes). But you are not going to sit and cry over that." Kapil, who led India to its lone World Cup win in 1983, lauded Tendulkar for playing consistently well since making his international debut in 1989 in Pakistan.

"He did fairly well playing for 15-16 years at a stretch," he said about the Mumbai player who has scored 9,879 runs in 120 Tests and 13,497 more runs in 342 one-day internationals. Kapil, who turned 46 last month, said the team should look ahead and it was time for other players to start delivering as well.

"You cannot depend on one player. Even though he is a very important player, it will be wrong for the team to depend so much on him. If he's not fit, he's not fit," said Kapil, who played 131 Tests and 225 one-day internationals, leading India's pace attack. "But that does not mean that one should carry a negative thought about it (Tendulkar's absence). Everybody should share the burden," he said, referring to India's formidable batting line-up that includes Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman and Virender Sehwag among others.

The Pakistan team is scheduled to play three Tests and five one-day internationals, besides two warm-up matches during their 45-day tour to India, the first since 1999.

Kapil, a former world Test wickets record holder with 434 scalps and now a successful businessman, said India as hosts would be under more pressure as they would be playing in front of huge home crowds.

"I think the host country always has the extra pressure," he said. "But again both countries are used to taking the pressure, and the team that will keep its nerves will play better. Difficult to pick who is not good," Kapil said, declining to compare the strengths of the two teams.

Kapil also neatly ducked another important issue - that of pitches. Himself a former head of the Grounds and Wickets Committee (GWC), he along with panel members had been criticized for not making sporting pitches. Kapil said he was not qualified to comment on the pitch preparations. "I think it's the policy of the board and the (team) management... what type of pitches they want. I am no authority," he said, with a smile.

The pitch preparations for the Pakistan series have still not begun, with the GWC chief Venkat Sundaram saying they would start only after the itinerary has been announced.

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