Pitch dilemma for both captains

To bat or not to bat first?

This is a question that is bound to trouble both the India and Pakistan captains on the eve of the sixth and final one-dayer as the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium braced up to host its first One-Day International in over three years.

The first thing both Rahul Dravid and Inzamam-ul Haq did after reaching Delhi on Saturday was to address a customary press conference before dashing off to Kotla to have a look at the pitch which has been relaid recently.

Both the captains spent some time in the middle inspecting the pitch, which looks totally flat with absolutely no grass cover, before heading back to the team hotel to prepare the gameplan for the all important tie.

The last time a one-dayer was held here was in 2002 January when England beat India by two runs in a tight contest, which produced close to 550 runs. But much has changed since then as the Kotla has seen some major renovation work, including relaying of a new pitch.

The wicket is a major concern for Sunday's match with doubts arising over whether it could last the full 100 overs of the match.

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"There will be a lot of runs. Batting would be easy as the day progresses. The more the sun shines, the better for batsmen. I can't say how many runs it will produce, but this will be the best pitch in India," the curator added.

If the curator is to be believed, then the team winning the toss would have no hesitation in opting to bat first since the pitch is expected to be batsmen friendly as the match progresses.

Both Dravid and Inzamam, who had their first look of the track in the afternoon, played down the pitch factor in a press conference earlier in the day.

"The pitch will be the same for both the teams. I can't say how it will play without seeing it, but as I said it will be the same for both the teams. No team will have an advantage or disadvantage,' Dravid said.

Despite facing severe criticism, the pitch has got the backing of Chairman of BCCI's Pitches and Grounds Committee Venkat Sundaram who recently said that "as far as pitch and outfield is concerned I don't see any problem."