Asia Cup 2022 | Unbeaten India to lock horns with Pakistan in round two

The first round of the India-Pakistan match in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 went to Rohit Sharma’s team last Sunday. This Sunday, as the two teams meet in the Super Four stage, the Babar Azam-led Pakistan will come firing from all cylinders and look to not repeating the mistakes that they did in the five-wicket defeat, courtesy of Hardik Pandya’s brilliant all-round performance that took him to a career-best fifth rank in T20Is among all-rounders, and Ravindra Jadeja’s well-calculated knock, the two sharing 52 match-winning partnership.

Jadeja, who bowled an economical spell of 4-0-15-1 in the 40-run victory over Hong Kong in the second Group A, has been ruled out of the tournament following a right knee injury and Axar Patel comes in for a like-to-like replacement.

Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid on Saturday did not rule Jadeja out of the T20 World Cup yet. “Obviously he has injured his knee and is under the care of the medical team and the doctors. The World Cup is a fair bit away and I don’t want to jump to conclusions and rule him out or rule him in for the World Cup. We’ll see how it goes. A lot will depend on the rehab and the severity of the injury. I don’t want to rule him out or make comments until we have a much clearer picture and a better idea as the World Cup is six weeks away,” Dravid said.

Jadeja’s is a solid blow for India in the run-up to the World Cup. Patel may not be in the same mould as Jadeja, who not only bowls tidily but also has been solid in the middle-order as top as at No. 4 or 5, scoring runs and batting as per the situation. Jadeja the fielder is among the best in the world.

Jadeja’s absence also throws open an opportunity for the 35-year-old Ravichandran Ashwin to walk into the 11 for Sunday’s match between the two Asian subcontinent giants that are ranked first and third in the world. If Ashwin is going to be in the scheme of things for the World Cup, he may well be given matches to play rather than warming the bench.

While there is nothing much to worry about the Indian bowling led by the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah except for the expensive 25-year-old right-arm pacer Avesh Khan, the Indian top-order has taken a while to get firing consistently. Khan has an economy rate of 9.11 after playing in 15 T20Is, the figure badly damaged from 8.68 at the start of the Asia Cup as he went for 19 runs in two overs against Pakistan and 53 in four against minnows Hong Kong.

To put things into context, Khan conceded 15 runs more than what the collective Pakistan bowlers conceded on Friday en route to thrashing the associate member in their last Group A match by 155 runs, the joint ninth biggest margin of victory by runs in T20Is.

Without intending to demean Hong Kong, Pakistan showed the inexperienced side where they belonged while the Indian team, last Wednesday, gave away far too many runs, courtesy of Khan and left-arm medium-pacer Arshdeep Singh, who went for 44 runs in his four overs, which again was six more than what were scored off Pakistan collectively.

Khan was a bit under the weather on Saturday and will be monitored by the medical team before deciding if he is fit for the Pakistan game, said Dravid.

The Indian top-order, which has seen players shuffled in recent times due to the non-availability of the regulars due to rest gave and injury, has not really fired in this Asia Cup. Captain Rohit Sharma may have got the starts but not really got going like he is known to. An average of 23.07 in 15 T20Is in 2022, though at a 135.71 strike rate, is largely due to attempting to accelerate the scoring and ending up given catches.

To see Virat Kohli amongst runs is a good sign for India as they want him in top shape for the T20 World Cup, the first match of which is against Pakistan in Melbourne on October 23. It would mean that India and Pakistan would have met at least three times within two months. It could be four if India and Pakistan face each other in the Asia Cup final on September 11, which is more likely considering the form and the ranking of both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, the other two teams in the Super Four.

Kohli scored his second fifty in six T20Is this calendar year and averages 35. While his 35 against Pakistan was not the usual fluent innings that Kohli is known for, his unbeaten 59 was overshadowed by Suryakumar Yadav’s blitz in the last six overs against Hong Kong.

A matter of concern is KL Rahul, who was dismissed for a first-ball duck by Pakistan speedster Naseem Shah and scored a painstaking 36 off 39 balls against Hong Kong.

Rahul may be returning to action in the second half of August after injury but he is one who has the ability to score quickly and has formed a formidable pair with Rohit at the top of the order, accumulating 1,201 runs in 21 innings at 51.86 with four-century partnerships and as many fifty-plus stands for the first wicket.

The key is for Rahul to play a fast-paced innings to allow Rohit to bat through. As has been seen in the past, Rohit batting long means a big score that is usually beyond the opposition’s reach. It is not for nothing that Rohit has four T20I centuries, the most by any cricketer in the world while also being the highest run-getter in this format.

The head-to-head record between the two works heavily towards India, who have won eight of the 10 T20Is. But, the way in which Pakistan trounced Hong Kong to enter the Super Four is evident that they are back in the reckoning. The dangerous Muhammad Rizwan is back amongst runs while captain Babar Azam hasn’t crossed 10 in two innings here. Sunday may be the day when he could return to his big scoring act.

Pakistan pacers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf would be quite a handful for the Indians and they will look to make early inroads into the Indian top-order. Pakistan is also hit by injury as their right-arm pacer Shahnawaz Dahani, who hit two sixes at No. 11 against India to give his team some semblance of a total last Sunday. Dahani has been ruled out of Sunday’s match due to a side strain sustained from the match against Hong Kong on Friday.

Any India-Pakistan match is full of excitement and gets everyone interested, and Sunday will be no different, the only contest that fills the Dubai International Stadium stands to the brim.