Inzamam expects team to deliver in his 100th Test by AFP

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Ground:	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Scorecard:	India v Pakistan
Player:	Inzamam-ul-Haq
Event:	Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 23rd March 2005

 

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq wants his team-mates to rise to the occasion in his 100th Test with an improved performance in the third and final match against India.

 

"We need a combined effort to win the Test. It will be an icing on the cake if we do it on my 100th Test appearance," said Inzamam as Pakistan attempt to level the series after losing the second Test in Calcutta on Sunday.

 

The first Test ended in a draw at Mohali.

 

The 35-year-old Inzamam, who made his Test debut in England in 1992, said nothing would make the occasion more memorable than a win in the Test starting here on Thursday.

 

"When you achieve victory and that too against India, it is always something special. I can't wish anything more on this occasion," the Multan-born Pakistan captain told AFP in an interview.

 

Inzamam, leading a young team on Pakistan's first tour of India in six years, said he was satisfied with its performance in the previous two Tests.

 

"We were described as underdogs and the weakest team, but we have played well," said Inzamam, who has scored 7,238 runs in 99 Tests with 20 centuries and 10,631 runs in 336 one-dayers with 10 hundreds.

 

"By drawing the first Test from a losing position at Mohali we proved we have talent. Had we taken a first-innings lead at Calcutta, the result would have been different," he said.

 

Pakistan, 281-2 on the third morning of the second Test after unbeaten centuries from Younis Khan and Yousuf Youhana, lost their last eight wickets for 112 to be bowled out for 393 in reply to India's 407.

 

Rahul Dravid scored a century in each innings to help India set a stiff 422-run target for Pakistan, who then failed to cope with leg-spinner Anil Kumble (7-63) and were shot out for 226.

 

"It would have been great to be 1-0 up going into my 100th Test," said Inzamam, who took over as captain in 2003.

 

"We can still win and square the series. It will be a great achievement for us."

 

Inzamam said the most forgettable moment of his career was when he was axed along with seven others following Pakistan's first-round exit from the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

 

"That was a very difficult period. Everybody said my career was over but I knew I had plenty of cricket left in me," said the middle-order batsman, who scored just 19 in six games during the World Cup.

 

His most memorable moment was being part of Pakistan's World Cup-winning team in Australia in 1992.

 

Inzamam, then 22, gained international recognition with a brilliant 60 off 37 balls to help his team beat New Zealand in the semi-final.

 

Imran Khan, Pakistan's skipper in 1992, then predicted Inzamam would soon be a world-class batsman and was proved right.

 

"I have come a long way," Inzamam said. "I have achieved a great deal in both forms of the game and have matured a lot.

 

"I have also overcome my problem of running between wickets. I am a keen student of the game."

 

Only Javed Miandad (124 Tests), Wasim Akram (104) and Salim Malik (103) have played more matches for Pakistan.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 AFP)