Dubai: Yet another Super Sunday is on cards as India and Pakistan lock horns with each other in an high-octane Super 4 T20 match of Asia Cup here on Sunday.
Last Sunday, India avenged the World Cup T20 loss on the same venue by managing to snatch victory from the jaws of Pakistan in a Group A clash.
It is now time for Pakistan to avenge last Sunday's loss, while India eye for a second consecutive win against their arch-rival in the tournament.
The pitch in Dubai helps both batsmen and bowlers, especially spinners who bank on the slowness of it. An average score of 140 is expected on this deck.
Browsing through the head-to-head stats, India and Pakistan have played 10 matches, out of which the former have won 8 and the latter 2.
In the group stage, India managed to pull off back-to-back victories against Pakistan and Hong Kong, and have remained unbeaten in the tournament so far. But India is facing a huge challenge in the Super 4 stage as they apparently are wary of young fast bowlers Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh who were wayward in the last match against Hong Kong.
During the match, captain Rohit Sharma was seen shaking his head, looking worried about the fast bowling attack at the Super 4 stage, especially when India is without the experienced Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and now Ravindra Jadeja.
Jadeja was ruled out of the Asia Cup after sustaining knee injury, while Axar Patel has been brought into the squad.
Avesh Khan is also down with fever. Rahul Dravid said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday, “Avesh is feeling a little bit unwell, just been under the favour, a little bit of fever, doctors are managing the situation, he is not at practice today hopefully he is not too serious and should be okay for tomorrow’s game (against PAK), if not, then later part of the tournament.”
For Pakistan, their captain Babar Azam has not been in great form as he fell cheaply in both the games. Opener Mohammad Rizwan, on the other hand, has been in great touch. So far, he has scored 44 against India last Sunday and an unbeaten 78 against Hong Kong yesterday, which helped Pakistan to post a mammoth 193/2.
Pakistan's bowlers have been in great form and could be key for Sunday’s match against India, especially after their devastating show in bundling out Hong Kong for just 38 runs in their second group match.
Naseem Shah, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan, who are among wickets, will surely pose a challenge to the Indian batsmen, and remains to be seen how they go about today.
Virat Kohli seems to have come out of the bad patch with his unbeaten 59 not out against Hong Kong, but openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have not got going so far. While Rohit will like to get among runs, Rahul will not only have a big score under his belt, but also maintain a healthy strike rate.
The middle order looks in great form as it has delivered whenever asked for it. Surya Kumar Yadav is in great touch which he displayed against Hong Kong and Hardik Pandya saw India cross the line in a nail-biting match against Pakistan.
Fans will be expecting yet another humdinger on Sunday as they either will make their presence felt in the stadium or log on to their TV sets or smartphones to catch all the action.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain. (UNI)
