Chandigarh: Pakistan will hold the edge as they take on out-of-sorts India in the first of the six-Test hockey series from Friday.
On the eve of the opener, the Indian team looked in disarray with uncertaintly still prevailing over who would don the skipper's mantle in the absence of regular captain Dilip Tirkey.
The ace defender, who got married recently, has opted out of the first three matches of the home leg for "personal" reasons.
The crown was likely to go to either of the two senior most players in the team -- midfielder Ignace Tirkey or striker Arjun Halappa.
Speculation was rife that Halappa, who led Bangalore Lions to title in the recently concluded Premier Hockey League, would be named captain.
Indian coach Rajinder Singh Junior was also in the dark over who would lead the team on match day.
"It's all IHF's decision. I don't have any clue," said the coach.
On the plans for the series, the coach said all the 20 players in the side would get a chance to play.
"It's a good team and all the 20 members will get a chance to play," he added.
But India would have to experiment with both its defence and attack which comprises Halappa, Didar Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Hari Prasad, Tejbir Singh and Adam Sinclair.
In the absence of Dilip Tirkey, Ignace may have to play as a full back to provide support to Kanwalpreet Singh and Harpal Singh.
The Pakistanis, on the other hand, looked a picture of confidence.
Aided by psychologist ZA Iqbal's morale boosting pep talks and coach Asif Bajwa's clearly cut out plans, the visitors were upbeat.
The fact that Dilip Tirkey would be missing from Indian ranks, also came as good news for the visitors.
"This (Tirkey's absence) is news for us. Absence of a big player means a lot of things. We should take advantage of this and will definitely do that," said an elated Pakistan skipper Mohammed Sqalain.
Saqlain said they would like to keep up their good track record against India and try to implement the coach's plans.
"We have a history of winning against India and we would like to keep it intact. We have to play good hockey which means sticking to the coach's plans for 70 minutes," the centre half said.
Coach Bajwa said the home-and-away series against India would be good exposure for the youngsters in the side as the team is eyeing to do well in the Commonwealth Games next month in Melbourne.
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