BANANA SKIN BOUT
India have to be wary of Afghans who are gunning for upset
Dubai, Sept. 24: India will hope that their untested middle-order gets some game time ahead of the grand finale when it takes on an everimproving Afghanistan in the final ‘Super Four’ encounter of the Asia Cup on Tuesday.
India have been on a roll after an unimpressive start against Hong Kong, but they have to be wary of the Afghan warriors, who almost pulled off upsets over Pakistan and Bangladesh.
With a spot in Friday’s final sealed, skipper Rohit Sharma may want some of his untested middle-order batsmen to get quality time in the middle against someone of Rashid Khan’s calibre.
Often in cricket, the ‘Law of Averages’ catches up with the best performing teams at a critical juncture. Shikhar Dhawan (327) and skipper Rohit (269) have done the bulk of the scoring in the four matches so far with very little contribution being required from the other batsmen in the lineup.
The next highest scorer is Ambati Rayudu (116 runs) because he comes in at No 3. The problem has been lack of batting time for the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik so far.
Sample this: Rohit and Shikhar have so far faced 284 and 321 deliveries respectively. The next best Rayudu has played 162 balls. However, Karthik (78 balls), Dhoni (40 balls) and Kedar (27 balls) can be found wanting if there is a top-order collapse on the big day.
Rohit had given Dhoni an opportunity to come in at No 4 against Bangladesh and the former captain scored 33 runs. But it was a pressure-free situation. Dhoni’s achilles heel of late has been to keep the scoreboard ticking in pressure situations that the middleovers throw up.
If the likes of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman can put pressure, it will be a good warm-up for the middleorder trio before the final match. The Indian captain might fancy batting first in case he wins the toss. — PTI