India and Pakistan will lock horns for the second time in Asia Cup 2022 when the two sides face off in a Super Four fixture at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
India qualified for the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup 2022 on the back of wins over Pakistan and Hong Kong in the group stage. India, in its opening match of the Asia Cup, beat Pakistan by 5 wickets and followed that with a 40-run victory over Hong Kong.
The two wins for India meant that one of either Pakistan or Hong Kong from Group A could have qualified for the Super Four. The second team from Group A to qualify for Super Four turned out to be Pakistan as they annihilated Hong Kong by 155 runs.
Pakistan would be itching to seek revenge for the group stage loss at the hands of their arch-rivals. The Babar Azam-led side could draw confidence from the fact that there are several areas of concern for India ahead of the big match.
The most important issue that India needs to address is that of KL Rahul's form. The Indian opener was dismissed on a golden duck by Pakistan pacer Nassem Shah when the two teams met during the group stage of the tournament. Then against Hong Kong, Rahul played a sluggish knock of 36 from 39 balls before getting out.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma too hasn't been at his best in T20Is this year. In this tournament, he has managed scores of 12 and 21 and has hit only one fifty so far this year. Shaky top-order has meant that the middler-order has had to do the bulk of the scoring.
Indian bowling isn't in great shape either. The young pace duo of Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh looked blunt against Hong Kong. In their combined eight overs against Hong Kong, they leaked 97 runs only picking two wickets. Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been wicketless in the tournament thus far.
In the two matches that India has played, the team has relied on the exploits of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya. Rohit would know that Pakistan batsmen will come hard the second time around. With India also set to face buoyant Afghanistan and Sri Lankan in the Super Four, the bowlers need to up their game.
Further compounding India's problem is the injury to Ravindra Jadeja. The all-rounder has injured his knee and has been ruled out for the rest of the Asia Cup. Replacing Jadeja in the Indian squad is Axar Patel. Jadeja had played a handy role in India's two wins. First, he was promoted up the batting order in the chase against Pakistan. The move worked as Jadeja scored a steady 35 from 29 balls. Then against Hong Kong Jadeja bowled a miserly spell of 4-0-15-1.
Jadeja's unavailability has led to a selection dilemma for Rohit and Indian coach Rahul Dravid. Should India go for a like-for-like replacement and pick Axar Patel? Or should India give one of either Deepak Hooda or Rishabh Pant a chance in the playing XI?
Pakistan themselves would be hoping that a few things fall in place as soon as possible. The biggest of Pakistan's concerns is the form of captain Babar Azam.
Babar who these days doesn't go wrong in white-ball cricket has been dismissed cheaply twice this tournament. Against India and Hong Kong, he has scored 10 and 9 respectively.
With Babar's dismissal, Pakistan's batting hasn't been at its effervescent best. Had it not been for Mohammad Rizwan's steady 43, Pakistan would have found it difficult to score 147 against India. Pakistan's middle-order and lower middle-order look rusty. Will Indian bowlers be able to exploit this weakness?
Pakistan was also hit by an injury crisis late on Saturday as the fast bowler Shahnawaz Dahani was reported with a side strain which has ruled him out of the remainder of the Asia Cup.
The two teams are primed to go through to the final of this Asia Cup and face each other for the third time. But much work remains to be done by both sides before that.
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India vs Pakistan Head to Head
Matches played: 10
India wins: 7
Pakistan wins: 2
Tie: 1
Form Guide
India: W-W-W-W-W
Pakistan: W-L-L-W-W
Possible XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Haider Ali, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah
Where to watch
All the Asia Cup 2022 matches will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network. The match begins at 7.30 PM IST. The match can also be streamed live and watched on the Disney+Hotstar app.
First Published: Sept 3, 2022 5:03 PM IST
