PESHAWAR, Feb 5: Inzamam-ul Haq and Rahul Dravid have a lot in common apart from being the cricket captains of their respective national teams. Both are introverts, soft-spoken, forthright and easily the best batsman in their own teams.

Both have solid technique, a near-impregnable defence, an ability to improvise and phenomenal powers of concentration that have earned them close to 20,000 runs in both forms of the game. Their prized scalps are like souvenirs for rival bowlers. They may not be great thinking captains, at least not yet, but as leaders they like to lead by example.

Dravid and Inzy clearly believe that there are no short-cuts to success. If a job needs to be done, they believe in putting their hands up and doing it to the best of their ability. It's this complete honesty with which they approach the game that sets them apart from their more illustrious colleagues in international cricket.

Unlike many captains, Dravid and Inzy do not wear their aggression on their sleeves. They don't need to resort to sledging on the field, nor do they get flustered by it. They usually let the full face of their broad bat do all the talking on their behalf.

Both have handled the pressures of captaincy rather well as their healthy batting averages would suggest, and like generals during war time, they have just one objective: victory. For, in the Indo-Pak cricket war, there are no prizes for coming second best. The losing captain usually gets the sack, while the winner is worshipped as a demi-god.

Salty pros, Dravid and Inzy, have been there before and seen it all. Inzy, of course, is the only Pakistan captain to have kept his job after losing a home series to India, while Dravid, who has already been named captain for the England series, knows his job is safe for the moment, irrespective of how the ODIs pans out.

But they also know that they have been lucky. Public opinion matters and cricket administrators here are past masters at finding scapegoats when it gets too hot for comfort. Therefore, there's lots at stake for both skippers in the ODI series.