3 ominous signs for India from Pakistan's win against Nepal in Asia Cup 2023
The last time India and Pakistan played an ODI, MS Dhoni was the Indian wicket-keeper, Kedar Jadhav, and Vijay Shankar were crucial members of the side, and the Kul-Cha combination was at its peak.
It was June of 2019 and India faced off against Pakistan in a league-stage match of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, with India winning the match comfortably by 89 runs.
A lot has changed since then, with Pakistan the No.1 ODI side heading into the Asia Cup. They comfortably trounced Nepal in their first match of the Asia Cup and head into their second group-stage fixture against India brimming with confidence.
India will definitely have kept a close eye on the proceedings at Multan to better prepare for their game on Saturday. Let's look at three ominous signs for India from Pakistan's win against Nepal in Asia Cup 2023.
#3 Babar Azam's form
Babar Azam hasn't faced India as Pakistan's ODI captain yet, but in his five ODIs against India, they've managed to keep him fairly quiet, with no half-centuries or centuries, an average of around 32 and a strike rate less than 80.
However, Babar's stock has massively risen over the last four years, and right now, he's the No. 1 ODI Batter in the ICC Rankings.
Picking up his wicket will be India's priority and his poor run of form in the Lanka Premier League gave the impression he might not be in the best of form. However, after getting dismissed for a duck in the first ODI against Afghanistan, Babar has put his game face on, scoring two half-centuries and a mammoth hundred in his next three games.
He came in to bat under immense pressure against Nepal and masterfully built an innings on a tricky, sluggish surface, accelerating brilliantly at the end. With him back to form, India will need to get their plans right to get the better of the Pakistan captain.
#2 New-ball bowling
In conditions that gave very little to new-ball bowlers, Nepal was three down inside the second over against Pakistan. While some of that might have to do with the gulf of quality between Nepal's batting and the other sides, it also speaks to how good the Pakistan seamers are, especially with the new ball.
India's struggles against the Pakistan new-ball bowlers have been well-documented across the last two T20 World Cups and the Asia Cup T20 2022. Shaheen Afridi is undoubtedly the bigger name but his new-ball partner Naseem Shah has been equally unplayable.
Surviving and scoring runs against the Pakistan new-ball bowlers will be a real test for the Indian top-order heading into this Asia Cup.
#1 Shadab Khan and Co.'s spin bowling
Akeal Hosein, Yanic Cariah, and Gudakesh Motie exposed India's weakness against spinners in the West Indies series. On the slow, sluggish tracks in Sri Lanka, India needs to be at the top of their game to deal with the Pakistan spinners, led by Shadab Khan.
Shadab got the ball to turn ways right from ball one, troubling the hapless Nepal batters on a dry and dusty Multan track. While the pacers picked up the first five wickets of the match, Shadab cleaned out the rest of the Nepal batting lineup almost all by himself, picking up four wickets while Nawaz picked up one.
The quality of India's batting against spin has declined over the last few years, and contrary to popular opinion, they aren't much better at reading and handling spinners than any other side in world cricket.
In Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Ifthikar Ahmed, and Agha Salman, Pakistan have up to four potent spinners who could trouble the Indian batters. While the focus will rightly be on India's battle with the Pakistan seamers, how they tackle the spinners could prove more crucial.