Shoiab Malik has been laid low by an ankle injury while Shoaib Akhtar had to spend two days in hospital due to fever and a chest infection © Getty Images

Encouraging performances have been sporadic and insufficient to revitalise Pakistan's tigers, young of age but weary of soul. As if a loss of spirit wasn't enough, the physical health of Malik's shrinking violets means that they are barely able to field a team in Kolkata. A psychiatrist would be examining the likelihood of psychosomatic illness.

Unfortunately for Pakistan it is the bowlers who are afflicted. By some margin they have been the better half of Malik's team, and it is the batsmen, who failed so miserably in the second innings of the first test, who must now carry the battle to India.

I hate to say this but Pakistan's best bet in Kolkata must be a draw. With the bowling attack that they are rumoured to be able to muster, India's batsmen must sense a kill. The cornered tigers face extinction. This is a battle for survival. Pakistan fans will want to know their team has the stomach for it.

	Misbah-ul-Haq is fast living up to the last name he shares with Inzamam © AFP

The fascination of the Delhi Test grows with each session. The modern stars of India and Pakistan are playing out a classic every bit as heroic as those of their predecessors. We often worry about the quality our current heroes but who could not have been delighted by the swing of Dhoni and Tanvir, the wrists of VVS and Butt, or the guile of Kumble and Kaneria?

I mention Butt and Kaneria because these young prospects are showing something new in this series. Butt has demonstrated an improved control over shot selection, and when he flashes it is with a late certainty. Kaneria has begun to unveil a delivery that goes straight on, neither a legbreak nor a googly, which magnifies his threat, especially against the tail. These are encouraging developments.

Yet Misbah-ul Haq's progress is the most fascinating. He bears the surname of Inzamam and now he has also inherited his magnetic attraction to the last-man-stands scenario. It can be a curse but also a route to fortune and glory. For a man who reportedly sings at the crease, Misbah is being presented with many opportunities to write his own song. What tune will this ul-Haq deliver?

	Sohail Tanvir and Shahid Afridi put on 39 runs for the seventh wicket to take Pakistan to victory © AFP

"Chokers" is a demoralising title for any sports team, even when it is well earned. It hurts the soul and shrinks the spirit. When Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvir entered the final act of Mohali's memorable one-dayer, a further stumble might have caused mental damage that would have quickly handed the rest of the series to India. Instead, they held their nerve in confident fashion.

Now Pakistan face the next encounter with an unexpected optimism. Tanvir plays with refreshing gusto and positivity. Afridi has shown he can measure his aggression for a few overs when it matters. Younis Khan has an influential century to calm his one-day anxiety. And Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul are beginning to forge a rapid and penetrative partnership. Crucially, India have problems aplenty to offer some balance to Pakistan's weaknesses.

One dramatic chase has revived Pakistan's optimism and begun the banishment of the chokers tag. Cricket is an exhilarating sport when contested by flawed but flamboyant powers. Pakistan, you might argue, are a touch more flawed and a shade more flamboyant, which probably places the advantage with India. But Pakistan fans at least expect their team to fight, an attribute that mysteriously disappeared during South Africa's tour only to reemerge in Mohali. What inspired its return is unclear but now this team knows it can perform when it matters--and that should be a moment of catharsis.

	Shoaib Malik and Geoff Lawson face a tough task ahead of them © AFP

Whatever political turmoil Pakistan endures, cricket will soar above any press blackouts, house arrests, curfews and martial law. The Pakistan Cricket Board is always willing to play, as if fearful that when cricket stops the pulse of the nation will stop with it and the United Nations will certify Pakistan as an irredeemable basket case.

Indeed, Pakistan's rulers have sought the success of their cricket team to help overcome unpopularity over tricky domestic and international crises. But this current tour of India begins with little prospect of cricketing rescue. Shoaib Malik's team are an unconvincing bunch, unsure of their best batting or bowling options.

The World Twenty20 was an uplifting beginning, but the longer the version of cricket the greater the magnification of weaknesses. Frustratingly, Pakistan's failings have become constants, insoluble problems beyond the wit of captain, coach, or cricket board. It is early to judge captain and coach, of course, but now is their opportunity to carve changes, an opportunity they seem reluctant to take.

The blight of modern Pakistan cricket has become the situation of the opening batsmen. It would be hard to argue that Pakistan cricket is any closer to solving this problem than it was immediately after the 2003 World Cup. This is inexcusable. The dilemma was highlighted by the farce of vice-captain Salman Butt being unable to hold onto his place. As Geoff Lawson has suggested, Pakistan need to choose two openers and give them a run. That could mean an opportunity for Butt and Yasir Hameed. All will be revealed tomorrow.

Just as depressing is the wicket-keeping slot. Kamran Akmal has performed miserably for over a year, right back to last year's tour of England when Bob Woolmer was calling in experts to help correct fundamental flaws in Akmal's glovework. Hardly a game goes by without Akmal making a major blunder. As much as everybody wills him to recover his form, can this really be the way to manage Pakistan's wicket-keeping position? Pakistan need to find a safe pair of hands behind the stumps and this has to be Akmal's last chance.

The bowling, despite the loss of Mohammad Asif, is the least troublesome, partly because Asif isn't quite as adept in one-day cricket as he is in Tests. If - and it is a gigantic if - Shoaib Akhtar can stay fit and free of trouble, a Pakistan pace attack of Akhtar, Umar Gul, and Sohail Tanvir or Rao Iftikhar Anjum has a more formidable look about it than one spearheaded by Asif, simply because Asif has yet to work out the variations in length and pace that are essential for success in one-day cricket on unhelpful wickets. Without Akhtar and Asif Pakistan will be in trouble.

Shahid Afridi is another bowling asset and Pakistan's most improved one-day bowler. But facing India's batsmen on home turf will be a genuine test of his development and his status as an international class leg-spinner. The Afridi conundrum continues in other areas. Views are divided between him opening the batting and batting lower down the order. Lawson's argument that his age determines he should not open doesn't hold water when you consider the age of Sanath Jayasuria, Matthew Hayden, and Adam Gilchrist.

Finally, Pakistan have missed another opportunity to appoint Afridi as one-day vice-captain. Younis Khan might make sense for Tests but in one-day cricket Afridi is a natural leader, and a sense of responsibility might even help his batting. Imagine vice-captain Afridi opening the batting against India?

However you look at it Pakistan are not quite ready for this tour of India. The team combination is unsettled. The captain has failed to translate his command of the Twenty20 arena into control over the longer versions of the game. And the South Africa tour brought with it an unwelcome tag of 'chokers.'

On the bright side, India have their own problems and Pakistan can learn from their bitter experience against South Africa. But the central problem for Pakistan cricket over the last decade is that it has failed to learn from mistakes and experiences. Until the organisation that is Pakistan cricket, and this includes the cricket board and the players, is able to become a learning organisation we will be discussing the same issues in a decade from now.

But the immediate challenge is India at home, and it will be a tough one. Let's see how quickly Malik and Lawson are able to learn.