The opener smashed a 45-ball century, the second-fastest in one-dayers, in the fifth game at Kanpur on Friday to help Pakistan gain an unbeatable 3-2 lead in the six-match series.

"It will help us if we can get Afridi out early," Dravid said ahead of the high-profile sixth and final match, to be watched by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid tight security.

"We lost the last match because of Afridi's remarkable knock. That made all the difference. One cannot do anything if somebody bats like Afridi did yesterday," Dravid said here on Saturday.

The India skipper, who top scored for India with 86 in Kanpur, said he did not believe his team was under pressure even after losing three successive matches.

"It's disappointing to lose three matches in a row, but we've played some good cricket in the series. We now need to have just one good day on the field. We have the potential to level the series," said Dravid.

He said the team was motivated to win the crucial game, which is also John Wright's last as India coach.

"There is always motivation to win whether it is somebody's last match or not. John has been with the team for close to five years. It has been an eventful journey," he said.

"We have valued his contribution. He will be missed not only as a coach but also as a friend."

When asked whether the team would miss the services of regular captain Sourav Ganguly, Dravid said, "People also miss matches because of injuries. There are 15 guys in the team and everybody is keen to do well."

Ganguly is eligible to play after he appealed the six-match ban imposed on him by the Interna-tional Cricket Council for slow over-rate during the third and fourth matches of the ongoing series.

But the national selectors did not pick out-of-form Ganguly for the last two games.

Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq said his team was keen to maintain the winning run and clinch the series.

"Having gained the lead, we now believe that we can win the series. We are in a good position and will try to capitalise on it," said Inzamam, whose team had lost the first two matches before staging a remarkable fightback.

"It's good to see the way we've fought back. Even in the Test series, we came from behind to draw level. The players are confident after winning three consecutive one-dayers."

Pakistan were trailing 1-0 in the three-Test series before bouncing back to win the third and final match at Bangalore to level the series.

"When we came here we were written off, but I am happy we have been able to fight back," said Inzamam.

PROBABLE TEAMS
PAKISTAN: Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamamul Haq (captain), Abdul Razzaq, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal, Navedul Hasan, Rao Iftikhar, Arshad Khan.

INDIA: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Dhoni, Rahul Dravid (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Anil Kumble.

FEROZESHAH KOTLA
First ODI match: India v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI, 15/09/1982
Last ODI match: India v England, 5th ODI, 31/01/2002
Matches played: 12
Matches won by home side: 6
Matches won by touring side: 4
Matches won by neutral side: 2
Highest individual innings: 145 R Ponting 1997-98 Australia v Zimbabwe
Best bowling: 6/41 V Richards 1989-90 India v West Indies
Highest team innings: 294/3 Zimbabwe 1997-98 v Australia
Lowest team innings: 176 India 1989-90 v West Indies
Highest run chase achieved: 281/4 India 1982-1983 v Sri Lanka