It's once again time for the most awaited game on the cricketing calender, it is now almost the purpose of the Asia Cup to squeeze in as many India-Pakistan games in one can say. It's gonna take place tomorrow in Dubai starting 7:30 pm PST (6:30 local). And after the May conflict between India and Pakistan, this game gets even more hype and context, no matter how much someone tries to deny it or keep politics separate.
Can we call this a new look rivalry?
Yes, this time there are new stars that are taking the centre stage in the ring of fire. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have retired from this format quite a while ago, whereas Pakistan has also shifted it's direction in T20 cricket, leaving out it's experienced duo of Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan in favor of an aggressive, modern-day strike force. It would've been hard to believe if someone told me two years ago that Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha would go out to the middle for an India-Pakistan toss but it's a chance for young players on both sides to make a name for themselves, which is an opportunity everyone has in an India-Pakistan clash.
How's the form of both the teams?
Both India and Pakistan come into this game having comfortably beaten associates, with UAE and Oman being bundled out for 57 and 67 respectively. While India did not get much time out in the middle with the bat, Pakistan were lucky enough to have batted their full 20 overs and got some game time. While it wasn't an ideal performance against an associate Oman side, they will be happy to see Muhammad Haris back amongst the runs, who scored 66 back at his best no 3 position after an extremely dry run lower down the order.
Pakistan's last 5 T20Is (most recent first): W W W L W
India's last 5 T20Is (most recent first): W W W L W
How is this game important in context of the Super 4 schedule?
Since Oman and UAE are the two other teams in this group, that means barring any upsets, India and Pakistan will be the ones going through to the next round. It would then also mean that the winner of tomorrow's clash would finish on top of Group A.
Since there are no pre determined seedings that I am aware of, the topper of Group A will be given the seeding of A1 and that would mean that the team finishing first plays all it's Super 4 games in Dubai and also gets an extra day off after that first Super 4 game which would be between India and Pakistan if they both qualify
On the other hand, the team finishing as A2 will have to play one game in Abu Dhabi, that too with only a day of rest after the first high-voltage Super 4 game in Dubai.
Credits: Asian Cricket Council
Head-to-head results
In T20Is: India 10 - 3 Pakistan
In T20I Asia Cups: India 2 - 1 Pakistan
In T20Is in Dubai: Pakistan 2 - 1 India
Last five T20I matches between them:
India won by 4 wickets (2022, Melbourne)
Pakistan won by 5 wickets (2022, Dubai)
India won by 5 wickets (2022, Dubai)
Pakistan won by 10 wickets (2021, Dubai)
With the exception of the 2021 game, all of them have been closely contested thrillers.
Players to watch out for
With such an exceptional crop of players, it's extremely difficult to pick a player from this Indian side but it might be unfair to look beyond Abhishek Sharma. This would be his first time experiencing the pressure of an India-Pakistan contest and it would be really interesting to see how he deals with it. He usually has only one way of playing, which is to hit the ball from the word go, something he showed a glimpse of in the first game against the UAE.
He hasn't scored a lot in the recent few matches, but Sahibzada Farhan excels at hitting the ball out of the park against spin, especially in the powerplay. One would also expect him to do well against Hardik Pandya who's not the fastest going around, and although he does have a bit of a problem against the inswinging ball, Pakistan can expect him to do well if he is able to survive Jasprit Bumrah's opening burst.
Probable Playing XIs
From what we have seen with regards to this Indian coaching set-up under Gautam Gambhir, they are unlikely to add Arshdeep Singh in to the lineup, as that would reduce the batting depth, or have India sacrificing a quality spinner like Kuldeep.
India XI (probable): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy
Although Pakistan under Mike Hesson is known to favor batting depth too, but they might just include the express pace of Haris Rauf for Faheem Ashraf or maybe even Sufyan Muqeem if the surface looks fresher
Pakistan XI (probable): Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Muhammad Haris (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hassan Nawaz, Muhammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf/Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed
Pakistan's complete schedule in Group A
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