India Pakistan Asia Cup: One-up India will be taking on Pakistan for the second time in eight days in the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday in what promises to be another riveting contest for supremacy between the two South Asian rivals.
The opening duel between the two bitter foes held on August 28 at the same venue ended India’s way as they successfully chased down Pakistan’s modest tally of 147 with five wickets and two balls to spare.
That was in the initial group stage of the T20 competition and the upcoming round two bout between the two teams will see the winner getting a head start in the race for the final, scheduled for September 11.
The four-team round robin second stage of the continental tournament has two other contestants in the fray aiming to book berths in the final – Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – who take on each other in the opener tonight.
India have won both their group stage matches, including their second one against minnows Hong Kong, while Pakistan trounced Hong Kong by a staggering 155 runs on Friday to book their second stage berth after losing to India.
India Pakistan Asia Cup
The massive victory for Pakistan who bowled out Hong Kong for a measly 38 runs, the lowest by any team in the tournament’s history, must have boosted their confidence ahead of the tough game against the Rohit Sharma-led India.
India, meanwhile, suffered a big setback with the leg injury sustained by their star all- rounder Ravindra Jadeja that has ruled him out of the remainder of the Cup.
Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, who both scored 30s, had piloted India from 89-4 in the run-chase against Pakistan with a crucial 52-run partnership.
Jadeja has been replaced by like-for-like all-rounder Axar Patel who was in the standby list and has performed well whenever he got the chance. But India are bound to miss Jadeja in such a nerve-racking contest.
India Pakistan Asia Cup strategy
The Indian think tank has to decide whether to pitchfork the lanky Patel straightaway or include the much more experienced right arm finger spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, so far cooling his heels in the reserves.
Another option for India is in the form Ravi Bishnoi as the second wrist spinner to accompany Yuzvendra Chahal.
Also, interesting to see would be the approach of the Indian pacers against the Pakistan batting order that includes captain Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman.
The short-pitched bowling attack by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and company kept the free scoring Pakistan batsmen on their toes in the first scrimmage between the two teams and helped India restrict their rivals to below 150.
Bhuvneshwar picked up four victims, Hardik Pandya scalped three while the remaining wickets were snapped up by Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan.
The last two inexperienced bowlers went for plenty of runs against the weak Hong Kong and are expected to put up an improved show.
In batting question marks have been raised against opener K L Rahul who got a golden duck against Pakistan and was slow to get off the blocks even against a none-too-strong Hong Kong attack.
Left-out players for India Pakistan Asia Cup
Rishabh Pant was controversially left out of the eleven for the tournament opener against Pakistan but then replaced Pandya, who was rested, in the contest against Hong Kong.
Who will be left out in round two against Pakistan to accommodate Pandya, is the other interesting point to ponder on.