Gulf News

Asia Cup important platform for Dhoni to reignite hitting skills

- SOURAV GANGULY Special to Gulf News

India start their Asia Cup campaign with back-to-back matches and a lot of people are talking about the heat, which was pretty apparent when Sri Lanka played Bangladesh. It would have been tough if both were strong games but playing Hong Kong first, today, hopefully won’t be that difficult.

Obviously the entire concentrat­ion will be on India-Pakistan, who play twice in the group stages, and hopefully in the final. The way Sri Lanka fared in the initial match against Bangladesh, any other final line-up would be an accident.

India-Pakistan matches over the last 10 years have been pretty one-sided with India dominating but since the Champions Trophy final last year, where Pakistan beat India, many are expecting the contest to be different and for me, it will be 50-50.

Pakistan are a good side and look an improved team under coach Mickey Arthur.

They have always produced talent but have lost their way over the years in harnessing and giving direction to that talent. It could be different now.

India will be without Virat Kohli. Yes, he is a huge pillar of strength but even without him this is a strong team. In the batting department, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are out-and-out match-winners in this format. Virat’s absence will also provide an opportunit­y to showcase talent because with the recent failure, the No. 4 and 5 spots will be up for grabs.

Low-bounce pitches

Conditions will suit both sides. Pakistan will enjoy batting on flat pitches with no movement and they become more dangerous on such pitches than ones which assist fast bowlers. On flat pitches, one needs pace and this Indian bowling will be a handy one. Both Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwa­r Kumar can get it coming into the right-handers and with low bounce on this pitch, batting will not be easy.

It will be an important series for Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It seemed he lost his way in the ODIs in England and it will be important for him to show the selectors that he still has it in him to keep the scoreboard moving at a good pace. There’s been a lot of talk about him getting stuck in ODI cricket and it will be important for him to reignite his hitting skills.

I am surprised to see no Risabh Pant in the squad. The Asia Cup squad was selected before his Oval hundred and the way he batted in his last innings, I am sure he is ready for the ODI format as well.

As usual, there will be lot of hype about tomorrow’s match but for both the teams it will be key to look at the entire tournament and winning the Asia Cup is more important than just one game.

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