Published: Feb 26, 2016, 02:14 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 27, 2016, 05:12 PM (IST)
With the status India-Pakistan bilateral series still murky, the sides finally play each other in the ongoing Asia Cup T20 2016 at Dhaka on Saturday. The energy revolving around an India-Pakistan match is always high and this might either get the best out of the players or put them under immense pressure. If the squad is young and inexperienced, the happening of the latter is highly likely. While India are coming off a comfortable win against Bangladesh in the first match, this will be Pakistan’s first match in this 13th edition of Asia Cup. MS Dhoni, who usually goes with the same side after a win is expected to have his playing XI unchanged for this clash, meaning Ajinkya Rahane will have to continue sitting on the bench. FULL SCORECARD: India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2016, 4th T20 at Dhaka
Top-order: The opening match against Bangladesh was a reality check for Team India. Their top-order is filled with experience with the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. However, Kohli and Dhawan were dismissed in a span of few runs for single digits. India were 22 for 2 in 4.3 overs, leaving Rohit to take the charge single-handedly for India. He did not disappoint once again, carried on his good form and helped India reach a decent total of 166 with his 83 runs off just 55 balls. Both Dhawan and Kohli threw away their wickets. And with the likes of Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz, the Indian openers have to be aware of what they are going to face on Saturday.
Middle-Order: Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh have hardly faced balls in the T20Is recently due to the good form of the top-order. The match against Bangladesh gave them an excellent spend some time at the crease ahead of the ICC World T20 under pressure. Unfortunately for India, their most experienced T20I batsmen, failed once again. However, it paved way for Hardik Pandya to play an explosive innigs, which helped India put up a match-winning score.
His knock of 18-ball 31 was a replica of the quick innings against Sri Lanka in the home series earlier in the month. India surely have found a dependable middle-order batsman, who holds the capability of coming ahead of the likes of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.
Lower-order: Dhoni nowadays is not particularly fussy about his bowling combinations across formats. In their Asia Cup 2016 opener, barring Jadeja, rest others made breakthroughs helping India defend competitive total of 166. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra and Jadeja have been a treat to watch. Their consistency has been even more impressive in the recent times. It was probably for the first time when four bowlers finished their spell with the same economy. Bumrah, Ashwin, Nehra and Pandya gave 23 runs each from their respective quota of four overs with Jadeja gaving away 25 runs from his four overs.
(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.” Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)
