AS the sun set in the backdrop, Pakistan players basked in the warm, humid air of the coastal city of Chennai, sitting in a circle right under the nose of the recently renovated Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Stand at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

Babar Azam’s men, having arrived here a day ago, were concluding their training session with a pep talk from team director Mickey Arthur before their crucial World Cup match against Afghanistan on Monday.

Chennai — although hot and sticky — has its evenings soothed by the sea breeze gently flowing in from its coast by the Bay of Bengal.

The Chepauk, as the venue is commonly called, was revamped 13 years ago, with its steeply erected stands separated by columns left open to allow the breeze in, making it a less of a muggy place to play cricket. The enclosures were also capped by white, quad conical roofing, adding to the aesthetics of the arena, located meters away from the famous Marina Beach.

Overall, the city has a feel-good factor, and for Pakistan, it has always been a happy hunting ground.

They have won both One-day Internationals they have played at the Chepauk so far. Separated by a decade and a half, both games saw a left-handed Pakistan opener scoring a century and a new-ball bowler winning it for the side against India.

In 1997, it was Saeed Anwar — with that famous 194 — and Aaqib Javed, and in 2012, it was Nasir Jamshed and Junaid Khan.

The combination needs to work for Pakistan once again as they, just like the breeze to the Chepauk, look for a way to the semi-final, which eluded them in their last World Cup campaign.

Both Pakistan’s current left-handed opener Imam-ul-Haq and leader of the bowling attack Shaheen Shah Afridi hit form in the side’s last match, but both performances couldn’t save them from a 62-run loss against Australia in Bangalore on Friday.

While Shaheen successfully got rid of question marks over his rhythm with an impressive five-wicket haul, Imam scored his first half-century in five matches.

The bespectacled southpaw from Multan, wants to emulate Saeed’s feat at the iconic venue.

“Chennai is a good venue for Pakistan in the history and we got good support and it’s obviously an inspiration for us and it’s a great motivation,” Imam told reporters in the pre-match press conference.

Imam, whose last century in the format came 21 innings ago, is working with the Pakistan coaching staff to convert good contributions of 70, 80 runs into match-winning hundreds.

“I have also spoken to my coaches about this — that for a long time my score is stuck at 70-80,” said the 27-year-old. “I spoke to my batting coach too, so hopefully this time I’m working on it and I will reach three figures.”

Shaheen, meanwhile, was expensive in games against Sri Lanka and India and looked nowhere near his best.

Against Australia, the left-armer ran in with purpose, was inventive on a heavily batting-friendly surface and executed his plans to perfection.

With Shaheen now “acclimatised” to the Indian conditions, the remnant of his World Cup run, may see the 23-year-old turn up as a dangerous prospect for opponents — Afghanistan, to start with.

“It is very important to acclimatise as a bowler,” Shaheen said in a video released by the Pakistan Cricket Board on the eve of the match. “It is not like I have done something new, but I have gotten used to the conditions here.”

Pakistan started the World Cup with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka but the 1992 champions then suffered back-to-back losses to India and Australia, slipping to fifth in the 10-nation table with the top four going through to the semi-finals.

“We have to admit we did not play well in those games,” said Imam. “We were not up to the mark, did not get the execution right and defeat always lowers morale.”

AFGHAN SPIN THREAT

Pakistan have had their fair share of problems against spin and Afghanistan have two of the best in the world with them in Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and Rashid Khan.

On a surface like that at the Chepauk, spinners have been dominant historically but Afghanistan, despite bothering Pakistan with spin, haven’t been able to churn out a result in their own favour against the former.

For that to happen, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott admitted on Sunday, other players would have to step up.

“The thing is — with spinners, there are only two or three of them playing a game,” said the former England batter. “And it’s the other eight as well that have to play the game so that’s important. So, it’s everybody’s job it’s not just the spinners’ job to win games.”

Afghanistan may have lost all seven ODIs against Pakistan but Trott is taking comfort from the fact that his charges have clinched three of the teams’ last four Twenty20 meetings.

“We always look to put the opposition under pressure straight away so we’ll be looking to do that tomorrow obviously, and I don’t think there’s any thoughts with regards to previous matches,” said Trott.

Pakistan, who play the high-flying South Africa at the same venue on Friday, wouldn’t want Afghanistan to come all guns blazing at them.

Babar’s men, after all, want to keep their record in Chennai intact and are aiming to leave the city with an improved win-loss ratio and as Imam put it: “We want to go to Kolkata with four wins in six games.”

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2023