Asia Cup 2018 Super Four, India vs Pakistan: Preview and Predicted Playing XI
Team India showed their quality in the group game against Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium. Indians bowlers did not even break a sweat as they clearly exposed the chinks in Pakistans batting department. Now, these two teams will once again face each other in the third fixture of the Super four stage at the same venue on Sunday, September 2.
Both the sides emerged victorious in their previous fixtures against Bangladesh and Afghanistan respectively. While Pakistan surpassed Afghans by three wickets, India strolled past the Tigers by seven wickets.
The arch-rivals have faced each other in 126 competed ODIs with Pakistan leading the scoreline 73-53. In case of Asia Cup ODI clashes, the scoreline is in India's favour with 6-5.
In their most recent clash at Asia Cup on September 19, India bamboozled Pakistan by eight wickets. Batting first, Pakistan scored what eventually was a below-par score of 162/10. India then followed with superb batting to clinch the target inside 29 overs.
India
India did not even break a sweat when they faced Pakistan earlier in the tournament. So it is not surprising at all to see them start off as favourites to win this match. While after their comprehensive win against Bangladesh, they will definitely be the more confident side coming into this match.
Batting: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have been in terrific form since the beginning of Asia Cup. Both are among tournament top-five run scorers with 158 and 213 runs respectively and also scored 52 and 46 respectively in the reverse encounter and the team will be hoping for another strong opening stand from them.
While the team will also bank on the likes of Dinesh Kartik and Ambati Rayudu, who have been amongst the runs and one can expect the top four to score the bulk of India's runs once again.
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kedar Jadhav were the star performers with the ball in reverse fixture against Pakistan. Both snared three wickets apiece and the team will want these two to continue to crack some wickets upfront.
Jasprit Bumrah too finished with impressive figures of 2-23 against the arch-rivals. While Ravindra Jadeja had a dream comeback against Bangladesh and the skipper will need these two to replicate it.
Expected Playing XI : Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Pakistan
Pakistan will have nothing on their mind but revenge when they face India for the second time in the tournament. They were annihilated in their earlier encounter against Men in Blue and the wounds of that humiliating loss would not have healed yet. Though Pakistan will gain motivation by reminding themselves of how they had bounced back to defeat India in last year's Champions Trophy final after being hammered by them in the group stage.
Batting: Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik were troubled the least by the Indian bowlers last time and it will be crucial for Pakistan that they along with skipper Sarfraz Ahmed make some sizeable contributions in the middle.
Imam-ul-Haq hit an impressive 80 against Afghanistan and he along with Fakhar Zaman will be expected to get the team off to a flier.
Bowling: Mohammad Amir was the most effective bowler against India in the reverse fixture. Although the pacer could not pick up a wicket, he conceded just 23 runs off his six overs and he will be Sarfraz Key man in all important fixture.
While Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Afridi were the pick of the bowlers against Afghanistan with three and two wickets respectively and they will be backed by his team to put India under pressure by taking wickets at regular intervals.
Expected Playing XI : Sarfraz Ahmed (C), Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam.