Internet Desk: A confident India will take on an unpredictable Pakistan side in a round robin league encounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament at Mirpur on Saturday. Dhoni and his men had a comprehensive 45 runs win over hosts Bangladesh in the first match. The Men in Blue are on a role having won six out of their last 7 T20 matches. Pakistani cricketers, on the other hand are coming straight after playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which keeps them well prepared.
The focus will be on Mohammed Amir who has recently made a comeback into international cricket after serving a five-year ban for spot fixing. Amir played his first international match in the series against New Zealand.
Indian vice captain Virat Kohli has already welcomed Amir’s return. But the question making rounds is whether the Pakistan team management play the talented yet rusty fast bowler for the crunch match.
For Amir though, a good performance against India will probably help him gain some credibility not only in the dressing room but also among the common cricket-loving public in Pakistan.
The match will also serve as a pre-cursor to the two teams’ opening round battle in the ICC World Twenty20, next month.
Traditionally, India has never ever lost to Pakistan in the global events but it has not been the case in the continental event where Afridi and his team had their share of glory as well.
Last time when both these teams clashed against each other was exactly a year and 11 days back in Adelaide during the ICC World Cup . Dhoni and his team handsomely defeated their arch rivals by 76 runs.
On the team front, India look more balanced than their rivals on paper . With the emergence of Hardik Pandya, Dhoni has the liberty to play an extra bowler. Pandya as a batting all-rounder, who can bowl seam-up, has lent the side requisite balance that Dhoni had long been craving for.
The only worrying factor for India is the captain having a back spasm, even though he played ignoring the pain against Bangladesh in their 45-run win. In case Dhoni decides to skip, there is Parthiv Patel as cover.For India, there hasn’t been much place for experiments with the playing XI. Rohit Sharma has emerged as the next big match-winner after Virat Kohli in the shorter formats. Shikhar Dhawan can be inconsistent but, on his day, he can murder any bowling attack.
For Pakistan, their opening pair is likely to be Mohammed Hafeez and Sharjeel Khan, who just had a good PSL scoring 299 runs for his franchise. However, compared to the Dhawan-Rohit pairing, the duo of Sharjeel-Hafeez doesn’t have the same kind of pedigree.
There is no denying Umar Akmal’s talent but the temperamental right-hander, who used to be once considered at par with Virat Kohli, has fallen way behind in the race. However, Akmal’s 355 runs for Lahore Qalanders in the PSL will give him confidence.
In the middle-order Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina are also bigger match-winners than Shoaib Malik and Khurram Manzoor. Yuvraj, however, needs a significant innings which will certainly bolster his confidence.
With skipper Dhoni firmly backing the veteran to come good, that is exactly the shot in the arm that the stylish left-hander would require before the big event.
In the spin bowling department, the absence of leg- spinner Yasir Shah will be a problem for the Pakistan team. Afridi will bowl his fast leg-breaks but the Indians have played him well in the past without much difficulty.
Ravichandran Ashwin is one bowler that Pakistanis did not negotiate well in the past. With the accurate Ravindra Jadeja for company, they would form a better pair than Afridi’s combination with left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz, fresh from his 13 wickets in PSL.
The only area where Pakistan will definitely have an edge is the pace bowling department. Pakistan have a potent fast bowling unit in Wahab Riaz,Mohammed Amir, Mohammed Sami and Md Irfan. Compared to them Indians will have to rely on the experienced Ashish Nehra, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and rookies Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. Overall, India should start as runaway favourites but anything can happen in a game of Twenty20.
India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harbhajan Singh
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (c), Mohammed Hafeez, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammed Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammed Aamir, Mohamed Irfan, Mohammed Sami, Wahab Riaz, Anar Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imaad Wasim, Mohammed Amir.