Akhtar ruled out of ODI series

Lahore: Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar will be out for four to six weeks and will miss the rest of the One-Day series against India due to an ankle injury, captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said on Sunday.

"We were confident that he would recover in time but when he tried to bowl during the practice he aggravated the injury and felt severe pain and that is why he is being ruled out of the One-Day series," Inzamam said.

"Shoaib Akhtar is our strike bowler so his absence will be felt but we have other bowlers in the back up who would definitely come up and perform," he said, adding that a replacement would be announced later on Sunday.

He said that doctors had advised Akhtar to rest up for four to six weeks.

Akhtar also missed out on the first two games of the five-match series.

In the Test series he had managed to take only four wickets at over 63 runs apiece but had bowled a couple of very quick spells and would have been a definite threat to India in the One-Dayers.

But there is some good news for Pakistan as Mohammad Sami is fit again and will be available for selection for the Lahore ODI.

Earlier Inzamam urged his players to work hard to stop the back-in-form Indian team, saying they need to improve their overall game specially fielding.

"This one-day series is still open and I think the team that fields well in the remaining three matches will run away with a series victory," Inzamam said ahead of the third match of the five-match series at Lahore on Monday.

India excelled in all three departments in their impressive seven-wicket win in the second match at Rawalpindi on Saturday to level the series at 1-1.

But there is some bad news for the Indians also as after the injury to Harbhajan Singh, vice-captain Virender Sehwag is also suffering from a shoulder injury.

He is most likely to miss the Lahore ODI on Monday.

The Pakistan captain said his side was capable of coming back from defeat in their last match.

"Getting beaten in one match doesn't really make a big difference. This team is capable of fighting back and winning again," said Inzamam, whose team won the first match by seven runs at Peshawar.

Pakistan's desire to post a big total after winning the toss was not aided by four run-outs as they were dismissed for 265 in 49.2 overs, a total which India surpassed for the loss of three wickets and with 6.5 overs to spare.

A sell-out crowd is expected for the next day-night match with a large contingent of Indian fans expected to cross the border to watch cricket.

An upbeat Indian skipper Rahul Dravid said his side would not get carried away with the Rawalpindi win.

"I think we played some good cricket to win, so I think its going to be good series but it doesn't mean that we can turn up the next day in a hope that we will win. We have to play well in the remaining matches to win," Dravid said.

Dravid singled out the presence of good fielders in his side as a big plus.

"Having fielders like Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh give us edge as they are class fielders."

Dravid said he was surprised at Inzamam's decision to bat first in the Rawalpindi match.

"To be honest, I would have fielded first. I didn't expect him (Inzamam) to bat first so I protected myself to have batted first myself and Pakistan's decision to bat first stumped everyone," he said.

India is also sweating on the fitness of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who missed the first two matches because of a finger injury.

Teams:

India: Rahul Dravid (C), Virender Sehwag (VC), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sri Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar

Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (C), Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umer Gul, Arshad Khan, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Asif

Umpires: Simon Taufel (Aus), Asad Rauf (Pak) TV Umpire: Zameer Haider (Pak) Match referee: Chris Broad (Eng)

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