India haunted by finals record

And so, by dint of sheer hard work, by divine ordinance, or by clever manipulation - depending on what you choose to believe - the final game of this five-match series is set up perfectly. Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium is alive with activity as virtually every Lahori tries to get a piece of the action.

Action has been the buzzword of this series so far. Apart from Peshawar, where Pakistan's bowlers put the ball in the right areas consistently on a pitch that had a bit of juice in it, every match has seen runs rain down. Shortened boundaries and flat tracks have virtually taken the bowlers out of the equation. You could just as easily play the game as a contest between the two teams' batting line-ups. The pitches have even removed the need for batsmen to try anything out of the ordinary. They can hit through the line, drive on the up and play cross-batted shots with impunity.

When it began, the series was billed as Pakistan's bowling versus India's batting, but it has not turned out that way. Both sides have batted with great ease, and although Pakistan's bowling attack is more formidable on paper, it has lacked the discipline needed to contain India's batting. Every match has thrown up a bonanza of extras, with wides and no-balls padding out the Indian total. Javed Miandad, Pakistan's coach, admitted that this was a worry going into the last game. "You can't hold their hands and make them bowl. They have been working hard in the nets to sort out the problem," he said. "Everyone in the team is concerned."

Yousuf Youhana, the vice-captain, had concerns of his own. As one of two key batsmen in the team, alongside Inzamam-ul-Haq, he has not quite delivered as Pakistan wanted. "I'm not overly worried about my form," he said. "I have spent time in the middle and scored some runs. But, I've reached out away from my body to play and this is something I want to be careful about."

But there's every chance that Pakistan will strengthen their batting line-up by bringing in Taufeeq Umar in place of Shahid Afridi. Consistency at the top of the order has been an issue, but Afridi has held his place thanks to his utility as the sixth bowler. If he makes way for Taufeeq there will be added pressure on Abdul Razzaq to bowl his full complement of overs.

For India, anxiety and pressure arises not from the opposition, but from within their own ranks. Their recent record in finals - and that is what this game amounts to - is dismal. They have built momentum up beautifully until the climax, but then fallen flat. Their key batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar being a case in point - have failed to deliver when the pressure is at its highest.

Rahul Dravid, though, is the sort of seasoned campaigner who relishes this very challenge. He refused to dwell too long on the downer of India's performances on the big occasion. "Really only Australia have caused us trouble in a final," he said. "And this is really just the final match of a series, not the final of a tournament."

He can believe that if he likes, but everyone knows this is more than just the last match of a series. If you go by the atmosphere in Lahore, it might as well be the final of the World Cup.

Pakistan (probable): 1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Yasir Hameed, 3 Yousuf Youhana, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Younis Khan, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Moin Khan (wk), 8 Shoaib Malik, 9 Shoaib Akhtar, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Shabbir Ahmed.

India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 5 Rahul Dravid (wk), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Murali Kartik, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Lakshmipathy Balaji.