Sourav Ganguly is truly a bowler's captain.
With totals exceeding 300 in all four innings in the two One-Day Internationals between India and Pakistan, captains of both teams are at their wits end to stem the flow of runs and bowlers have been left to their own devices.
Field placements are fine, but there is only so much you can do with them, what with the several restrictions on where and how the fielders can be stationed on the field.
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Questions at press conferences, like how much is a safe total, are used by the skippers to exhibit their sense of humour or whatever is left of it in these days of high pressure.
At least when it comes to the state of bowlers, skippers Inzamam-ul Haq and Ganguly are on the same plane.
But Ganguly, in the catbird seat, is not one to let situations cow him down. He has devised a noble method to make things a tad better for his bowlers if not completely.
At Thursday's nets in Peshawar, the Indian skipper walked up to the groundsman, Mir Bashar, and requested him to pull the boundary line back by five yards.
Tariq Lala, the assistant groundsman, said the request had been turned down because the space available between the boundary line and the advertising boards was dangerously close. A diving attempt by a fielder could result in serious injury.
"Yes, Ganguly asked for the ropes to be pulled back by five yards. But we have refused because Inzamam-ul Haq, the Pakistani skipper, did not convey to us his approval of the move," said Lala, as he painted the popping crease for Friday's one-dayer.
The Arbab Niaz stadium boundaries on either side of the wicket are 75 yards, while the straight boundaries are about 70-71 yards. Ganguly asked for the boundaries to be pushed back by at least five yards in order to cut down on the number of fours scored.
Shahid Afridi smacked 80 runs off 56 balls in the second one-dayer at Rawalpindi, hitting 10 fours and four sixes, which translates into a stunning statistic. Eighty per cent of the Pakistan opener's runs came from boundaries.
Before the second one-dayer in Rawalpindi, despite running fever, Ganguly came for training and was seen requesting the groundsman to push the boundary line back just as he did today.
While his request was accepted in Pindi and the boundary lines pushed back by five yards, the Peshawari groundsman turned the request down outright.
Sources revealed that Ganguly was well within his rights as skipper to advise the groundsman.
"The groundsman chooses to do what he wants with the ground until the morning of the match when he hands it over to the umpires. So Ganguly is entitled to make a request to the groundsman. Whether he accepts it or not is up to him," the source revealed.
Adnan Farooq, the official scorer of the ground, told rediff.com that a request of this nature had never been made before and there was no way it would be granted.
"The PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) has been too accommodating with the Indians. Memaan nawaazi mein jo wo bol rae hai hum kar rahe hai [Whatever our guests are asking we are obliging]," said a PCB official.
"Aur waise bhi [Colin] Powellsaab aye hue hai na, isliye hum kuch mana nahi kar rahe hai inhe [Also Colin Powell (US Secretary of State) has arrived here, so we cannot refuse]," the official said.
So, tomorrow morning, if the Pavilion End and the College End boundaries look farther apart you know who was responsible for it. You'll know where you read it first!
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