Giving tips and tipping to win

Kapil Dev has denied that he is India's bowling coach. Speaking to The Times of India, he said: "The media has got it all wrong. I won't be the coach as such. I will be just giving tips to the bowlers. It's like the Bangalore camp at the start of the season. We [Sunil Gavaskar and others] gave them a few pieces of advice.

Kapil also spoke about his improved communication skills. "You have heard me talk to the players earlier. I will be doing the same."

He shared some of his memories of Pakistan. "Pitches in Pakistan are no different from here," he said. "On the first tour, I was too raw, they hit our spinners all over the park. On the other tours, I got some helpful tracks. I remember a fast pitch at Sialkot, where Navjot Sidhu got a hundred. Also, a Lahore pitch, where the ball moved a lot."

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Imran Khan has tipped India to win the one-day international series and Pakistan to win the Tests. Speaking to the Press Trust of India, he said, "[The] Indian batting is strong but Pakistan's bowling attack is very balanced. So I foresee India doing well in one-dayers because batsmen win you one-day games. In Tests, Pakistan will have an edge as bowlers get you [the] 20 wickets need for a win."

He brushed aside the relative freshness of Pakistan's side as being a factor in the series. "Pakistan has a young side," he said, "but youth brings with it aggression and if they are aggressive in their approach, they can beat India."

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Zaheer Abbas agreed with Imran that India's batting would pose Pakistan a few problems. Speaking to Dawn, he said, "India's bowling is adequate without being extraordinary, but their batting strength is much stronger than Pakistan's, on paper. Pressure, for sure, will be on the home side because of the high expectations. Although Pakistan's bowling is stronger, it will entirely depend on the fitness and form of fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami."

Despite India's batting strength, Zaheer thought Pakistan would win the one-day series. "The Indian bowling line-up lacks spin penetration and [Murali] Kartik is not [a] great turner of the ball," he said. "I feel that with Shoaib and Sami leading [Pakistan's] bowling line-up, followed by support bowlers such as Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi, Pakistan have an upper-hand in the one-dayers."

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Dawn has reported that Shabbir Ahmed is available for selection against India. Shabbir has returned from Australia after a week's training with Darrell Foster, the coach assigned to help him rectify his action. A PCB spokesman has said that Foster's report regarding Shabbir's action should be available in the course of this week.