2023 World Cup: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today’s India vs Pakistan match ft. Jasprit Bumrah
For some reason, despite the presence of poster boys Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, and Mohammad Rizwan, the focus often seems to be more on the bowling attacks in India-Pakistan matches.
Maybe it's history as Pakistani fans want their bowlers to carry on the tradition of having a better attack. Or the paranoia from both sides of seeing their batting lineups collapse before, and a wish to see their bowlers win the game early.
Or maybe it's just that the two teams' reliance on their bowling attacks is grossly underappreciated. India could brush aside Australia and Afghanistan because their bowlers kept the opposition to sub-par scores in contrasting conditions.
Pakistan's batting lineup saved them against a sloppy bowling effort from Sri Lanka but the bowling clearly helped them win against the Netherlands.
There's not one bowler who won't be in focus when the two teams go head-to-head in Ahmedabad in the 2023 World Cup today. Pressure sometimes brings funny results, so predicting who'd do well is difficult.
But here's our attempt at picking three bowlers who might bag the most scalps:
#3 Kuldeep Yadav
If early reportage is anything to go by, the pitch in Ahmedabad for the big clash would likely be flat. Given how the authorities have promoted this game, they would have done everything to ensure it's a batting-fest too.
Kuldeep Yadav would have been at the top of this list in any other situation. He has an excellent record against Pakistan in ODIs - 10 wickets in five matches at an average of just 13.50. The last time he played against them, in the 2023 Asia Cup, he picked up a stunning, match-wining five-wicket haul - 5/25.
His variations and the recently added zip have helped him get through batters even if they try to play him out defensively. The flat wicket might just dilute his effect a bit but he should be able to extract enough from it to get a few wickets.
#2 Shaheen Shah Afridi
It was a tough choice between Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali. The former's left-arm angle hits India's biggest weakness but the latter has been in better form.
Shaheen, though, hasn't bowled too badly either and looks due for some wickets. India have a shaky top order with slightly out-of-touch Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer joining Rohit and Virat who aren't the best against the moving new ball.
Hasan averages 51.60 with the ball against India in ODIs, his worst for all teams he has played against. Shaheen, on the other hand, has a four-wicket haul against Rohit's team and an overall average of 31.20.
If he doesn't pick early wickets, he could surely come in late and pick some cheap wickets against India's thin lower order.
#1 Jasprit Bumrah
India's last match against Afghanistan showed that there's currently no fast bowler in international cricket better than Jasprit Bumrah in picking wickets on flat pitches. His line and length consistency early on and the ability to surprise the batters with a combination of yorkers and slower ones in the death overs is elite.
Bumrah doesn't have a great record against Pakistan. But the Men in Green have been susceptible to early blows in the powerplay (38/3 against the Netherlands, 37/2 against Sri Lanka) and don't bat too deep either.
If Bumrah continues his brilliant form and rhythm, he could get a big haul against the rivals.