India vs Pakistan 2nd ODI – Match Preview

The carnival of cricket rolls into the Gardens of Eden. India will look for a new beginning in the New Year, having lost all limited overs matches at home in the last year (a small matter of fact is that the last ODI against Pakistan was the only match played at home).

Pakistan will go into this match buoyant. Although the Indian side might feel that Pakistan got a better chance to use the overcast conditions by bowling first, no one can take anything away from the way Junaid Khan bowled. Kolkata might wake up tomorrow to some early morning showers which could again benefit the Pakistani pacers if they get a chance to bowl first. They remain a settled outfit and no changes are expected given the conditions. Azhar Ali will get another chance to bat himself into form; the same applies for the captain Misbah.

India, on the other hand, have plenty to worry about. Their bowling was stable if not overtly threatening. Bhuvneshwar Kumar swung the ball prodigiously in helpful conditions (his debut delivery will go down in the list of most popular YouTube videos), Ishant was steady and Dinda would have recorded better figures with a better fielding effort. A quality fifth bowler might have actually led to a tighter match although, given the state of Indian batting, it is hard to see a pure bowler or even a bowling all-rounder making his way into this team.

Which brings us to the batsmen. A lot of us would have woken up late on a Sunday morning to see India at 20/4 and brace ourselves for a Tendulkar-led recovery – only to brutally realize he is not there any more. The captain led an admirable recovery through an innings of true grit but, more often than not, he comes into a situation which demands recovery. One would feel Rohit Sharma has failed one time too many – he has crossed 25 only once in his last 13 innings across 2 formats. How long would he be persisted with is anybody’s guess.

Among the others, Kohli had a rare failure in this format while Yuvraj needs a longer run to get back into the groove. Gambhir hasn’t been in the best of form but has been India’s second best batsman in this format (after Kohli) in the year gone by. And you need players like Sehwag in crunch encounters like this.

To call the fielding atrocious would be an understatement – if Yuvraj Singh starts dropping sitters at point, you realize there is a problem. Bad umpiring did not help but you have got to take the chances which come your way. And, being a spinner, Ashwin really cannot afford those front foot no-balls – a bad habit which needs to be nipped in the bud.

Key players

Gautam Gambhir would have good memories of this ground, as in 2009 he scored an unbeaten 150 to take India to a comfortable seven wicket victory over Sri Lanka, chasing a total of 316 after being reduced to a precarious 23 for 2. Since then, Gambhir has led the Kolkata Knight Riders to their maiden IPL title and the city crowd would be expecting nothing less than an encore.

Partnering him in that monumental chase was Virat Kohli, who had put in all the efforts from his side to ensure that the Tendulkar-sized gap is reduced. Kohli will know it is just the beginning but he has put the right foot forward. He missed out on a couple of personal milestones last year (Most T20 runs for the year by 1 run to Martin Guptill and most ODI runs for the year by 158 runs to Kumar Sangakkara – Kohli played 17 matches compared to Sangakkara’s 31) and he will look forward to take up the chase from the first match of this year. Pakistan remains one of his favourite bowling attacks with his highest score of 183 coming in the Asia Cup chase last year followed by a good outing in the World T20 encounter.

In his third year as an international cricketer, finally Ashok Dinda gets a chance to play in front of his home crowd. A discovery of the first IPL in 2008, Dinda has taken long strides not just in his bowling action but even as a cricketer. So it is not surprising that he finds himself as the leader of the new-look Indian pace attack ahead of Ishant Sharma, who has played 47 matches to Dinda’s 11 but is making a comeback because the likes of Umesh Yadav are injured. After a reasonably satisfactory performance in the T20s against England (barring the last ball blip against Eoin Morgan in the second match) and Pakistan, Dinda could have had more than one wicket to his name in the first ODI had luck and the fielding efforts gone his way. He will look to start afresh again tomorrow.

If there is one batsman from the Pakistani side who is looking forward to this match, it is Younis Khan. Having made a century in his last outing here in 2007 in a Test match, the bulwark of the Pakistani middle order will try for a similar score – and it is not well and nigh impossible after his close to run-a-ball 58 got Pakistan back into the chase after Bhuvneshwar Kumar had them reeling at 21 for 2.

Their combined efforts might read 24-3-77-1, but the Pakistani spin attack was one of the reasons India came back into the match after the pacers had reduced them to 29 for 5. Largely one-dimensional (all three were off-spinners), they helped Raina and Dhoni stabilise and set themselves up for a calculated assault at the end to take the score to 227. If the rain gods stay put, Kolkata might not be so pace-friendly – in that, Ajmal and his men would have their task cut out.

He was expected to lead the Pakistani pace attack but the exploits of Mohammed Irfan and Junaid Khan has left Umar Gul in the shade – at least for the time being. He came back well with the (slightly) older ball in the T20s and will look to get the best out of the conditions, which he would be familiar with due to his one year stint with the Knight Riders in their inaugural season.

The stage

History is on Pakistan’s side as far as the results go. They have never lost to India here and have lost only once – to Sri Lanka – in five matches (3 against India, 1 against SL and WI). India have won 10 and lost 6 matches at this ground. Their last ODI appearance here was against England in 2011 where the Indian spinners flummoxed England to register a 95 run win.

Thanks to the incompetence of the administrators, the city missed the India-England World Cup match – which eventually materialised to be an exhilarating tie in Bangalore. The city has been starved of some quality cricketing action and nothing better than a crucial India-Pakistan encounter to whet the appetite. The ground has seen some high-voltage clashes – notably, the first match at this venue (incidentally an India-Pakistan match) where Saleem Malik’s turbo charged 72 off 36 deliveries upstaged a Kris Srikkanth century, thereby helping Pakistan win by two wickets; the 1987 World Cup Final which is generally accepted to be the closest ever; the Hero Cup final where Sachin’s last over heroics with the ball carved out a two run victory for the hosts. His shadow will loom large over this match too – after all, he has scored close to 500 runs here at an average a shade under 50.

There is really not very much to choose between batting first and chasing, with a ratio of 13 to 11 in the 24 completed matches played here. Teams tend to win big here with nine margins of 50 runs or more and seven margins of five wickets or more recorded so far. Three of the four biggest victories by the margin of runs at this ground have happened since 2011 (although two of the matches involved minnows). With its fast outfield and gamely pitch, the Eden pitch has something for everyone but going by recent standards, it is expected to be a bat-first pitch. The motto is simple – bat first and spin your opposition out of the game. India might play Ravindra Jadeja in place of Rohit Sharma while Pakistan might try to find a place for Zulfiqar Babar in the team. In any case, it promises to be an exciting contest.