Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly during practice in Mohali on Wednesday. (PTI)

Mohali: The cricket caravan has now reached Mohali. The theatre here is more compact and should motivate the players to give their best. Under floodlights, one can look forward to some captivating stuff provided, of course, Pakistan manage to up the ante in the crucial second one-day International for the IndianOil Cup against India.

Whether or not for the tight security around the stadium and the team hotel, the intensity is missing. The passion and fire that marks an India-Pakistan contest appears the most notable casualty.

The momentum, clearly, is with the Indians after their emphatic win in Guwahati. The hosts may stick to the same XI that won the first one-dayer, but another school of thought would like to opt for Sreesanth in place of Murali Kartik keeping in mind the fact that the Mohali track has always favoured the pacers.

Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson also spoke in similar lines.

“Mohali has a reputation for being a fast and bouncy pitch. I hope it will be better than Guwahati,” he said, hinting that Sohail Tanveer may be drafted in as the fourth pacer.

It’s to be seen whether the dew factor becomes significant.

When the Indians came down for practice, the focus was solely on Sachin Tendulkar.

Now that he has made his intention clear, Tendulkar would be under scrutiny. His form has matched his reputation in recent times and it would be interesting to see how he responds to the Shoaib Akhtar challenge.

During practice, Tendulkar looked a relaxed man, smiling and chatting with teammates. He obliged scores of autograph hunters but stayed away from the media.

A high voltage duel between the maestro and the Rawalpindi Express would be just the kind of stuff an overflowing audience would expect. The first round was won by the flamboyant fast bowler in Guwahati and it remains to be seen if he can make Tendulkar his bunny.

The hosts have looked the better side in the last match. The dominance was complete with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys dishing out a team effort. Kartik and Harbhajan Singh’s miserly spells put a leash on Pakistan batsmen and then the Indian captain, accompanied by the immensely talented Yuvraj Singh, ensured smooth sailing. Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik would hope for his top order to fire.

Without the requisite thrust at the top, Pakistan’s batting lacks the quality to confront Indian attack.

The unsettled look about their batting makes Pakistan vulnerable. The Kamran Akmal experiment has not worked so far. Younis Khan and Malik carry the pressure of last-match failures but the hosts must be planning hard to work out ways to snare Mohammed Yousuf.

India’s worries are few and the stage is ideal to consolidate the advantage gained in Guwahati.

The morale is high and Dhoni and his boys can advance Diwali celebrations with a victory at one of the finest venues in the world.

TEAMS

India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, R.P. Singh, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik.

Pakistan (from): Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Mohammed Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul Haq, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanveer, Abdul Rehman and Rao Iftikhar Anjum.

Umpires: Suresh Shastri and Ian Gould; TV: Amish Saheba

Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama

Match starts: 2.30pm.