Azhar was at the Gymkhana grounds, here on Saturday morning, along with the Hyderabad Ranji squad, and batted for about 45 minutes before chatting for a few minutes with The Indian Express. Right through, he exuded confidence while striking a positive note as he looked ahead to the series against Pakistan who are touring India after a lapse of 12 years.

``What pressure ? There is no pressure. When you play at this level of cricket, you should not think of pressure,'' he said as if to downplay the incidents which nearly led to the tour being called off.

``Play your game and play positive cricket. Of course, expectations will be high but you concentrate on your game,'' he said while discounting any thoughts that he as the captain might be under pressure in view of heightenedpublic expectations.

At the nets, Azhar was at his fluent best which evoked a remark from none other than former Test cricketer M L Jaisimha who said: ``He is in great nick. See his foot movement.'' As usual, Azhar went to Jaisimha for couple of tips after his batting session.

Azhar opined that the series would be very competitive despite all the pre-tour tensions. ``Everything is over now. We look forward to a competitive series,'' he said.

Azhar said one should not live in the past but think of the present and future, in the context of India's 0-1 Test series loss to New Zealand and Pakistan's defeats against Australia and Zimbabwe.

``I don't think of the past. Play hard and enjoy the game. Yes, in the past, we have taken the first five wickets easily and then struggled to wipe out the tail. We seem to lack the killer instinct. We are working hard on it, but we better sort it out fast.''

Azhar, the only surviving member of the 1987 series in the present Indian team, said: ``It was different ballgame then. The game has changed, new players have come and it will be a different series.''

He has a few fond memories of himself scoring two centuries, Gavaskar reaching the milestone of 10,000 runs during the '87 series.

The Indian skipper admitted that batting will be the main strength of his team. On the two newcomers -- Sadagopan Ramesh and young Laxmi Ratan Shukla -- Azhar said he was happy to have young players in the squad. ``I have heard a lot about them, but I have not seen them.''

With plenty of cricket ahead, Azharuddin felt that Indian team was going in the right direction. ``Hopefully, everyone is fit and hope nothing happens in the next few months.''

Asked whether the Indian think-tank would be in a dilemma over the type of wickets, since Pakistan have Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in pace and spinners Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed in their ranks, Azhar's cryptic reply was: ``We should not be bothered about that.''

He did not endorse the view that the Indian team would be atdisadvantage playing at home soon after the series in New Zealand. ``We are used to the low bounce wickets,'' he replied.