INDIA, PAKISTAN FACE OFF IN ASIA CUP TODAY
DUBAI:India’s Asia Cup campaign gaining momentum will face a fresh test when the only undefeated team in the fray takes on Pakistan in a Super Four clash here on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma has eased into the role of leading by example, stepping up in the absence of rested skipper Virat Kohli. His 52 and India’s solid bowling handed Pakistan an eight-wicket defeat in the league stage, the first of a possible three meetings in the tournament. Rohit’s 83 on Friday ensured another smooth victory, over Bangladesh in India’s first Super Four game.
Any match against Pakistan will add pressure to performance, but India have proved the strongest team in the competition. Ravindra Jadeja’s 4/29 against Bangladesh on his comeback has introduced friendly rivalry with wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, the duo that has held sway for over a year in limited-overs cricket.
INDIA BOWLING STRONG
With pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, who have shared 11 wickets so far, giving little away even on the slow Dubai pitch, Pakistan’s shaky batting has its task cut out. On Friday night, it was the experience of Shoaib Malik, who hit an unbeaten 51, that helped Pakistan stave off defeat against Afghanistan.
Victory will virtually assure India of a berth in the final on September 29 ahead of their final Super Four game against Afghanistan, but the team will also be keen to use the two games to find stability as far as the middle-order is concerned.
Ambati Rayudu is batting onedrop in Kohli’s absence, but is a leading candidate to fill one of the two middle-order slots as India build-up for the 2019 World Cup. It was thus a surprise when the team management asked MS Dhoni to bat at No 4 against Bangladesh on Friday.
PANDEY’S ROLE
Kedar Jadhav was in the playing eleven but did not bowl his offspin and India did not pick batsman Manish Pandey, who is waiting to play his first game in the Asia Cup. KL Rahul, fresh from scoring 149 in the Oval Test, is in the squad though more as a backup opener having not looked at ease in the middle-order.
Pandey is electric on the field, and as substitute pulled off one the best catches in the Asia Cup to dismiss Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, but he hasn’t justified his batting talent in the chances he has got. Seen as a big hope to fill the middle-order gap after the 2015 World Cup, he has a century and two fifties in 17 innings (22 matches). But he has not hit a fifty in seven innings, five of them completed, since his unbeaten 50 against Sri Lanka in August, 2017.
It remains to be seen whether the management opts for Jadhav’s all-round skills or a specialist batsman.
Pakistan will be keen to make amends for their flop against India in the league game, especially Fakhar Zaman, who hit a match-winning century in the Champions Trophy final last year but is yet to get going in this tournament.
Afghanistan will meet Bangladesh, who they upstaged in the group stage, in the other mustwin game in Abu Dhabi.