The Asia Cup action on Sunday sees the opening match of Group A being played in Dubai where the two heavyweights in the section meet as India take on Pakistan in what is always a fiercely competitive clash whenever these two nations meet.
With no disrespect to Hong Kong, the fact they are the other team in this group means that there is every chance these two sides will progress to the second stage of the competition so this one is purely about getting one over on the other.
India
I think India will always start out in tournaments like this as the favourites to win it and so it will be interesting to see how they carry that tag. To be fair, it isn’t anything new so their players should be capable of playing despite the expectation that is on them. They have been fairly active in recent times. They have just finished an ODI series in Zimbabwe but it wasn’t too long ago that they were playing England, Ireland and West Indies in this format of the game.
It was largely a second string side which went to Zimbabwe so some of their players won’t have played for a few weeks but they’ve been active enough to hit the ground running. India will know the last time they played Pakistan in this part of the world was at the T20 World Cup last year when Pakistan blew them away. With the next staging of that event barely six weeks away India will want to show Pakistan who is boss not just for their chances in this tournament but for mind games going into that one.
Pakistan
Pakistan also head to the Asia Cup having been involved in ODI action last week. They were competing in the Netherlands and as you would expect were pretty comfortable winners but they have had to nurse a few injuries which might go against their chances in this match. This will be the first time Pakistan have played T20 international cricket since they went down to world champions Australia back in April.
The good thing is that a number of their squad have at least been competing in things like the Vitality Blast and The Hundred since then so they have 20 over cricket still fresh in their minds. Pakistan will know they will go through to the Super Four stage in this tournament but like with India, they have the chance to lay a bit of a mental marker down for what is to come and announce themselves as leading contenders for the T20 World Cup in October.
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Team News
This will be a much stronger XI than the one which India fielded against Zimbabwe in the ODIs last week but there will be no Jasprit Bumrah or Harshal Patel as they are both injured. Virat Kohli returns to the squad so Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik could be competing for one place.
Pakistan have bowling injuries of their own to deal with as Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim have both been ruled out in the lead up to the tournament. Hasan Ali and Mohammad Hasnain have been called into the squad with the latter potentially going straight into the side.
Betting
Given the mixing and matching that India have been doing in recent times it is possible that they are a little rusty going into this match and that opens the door to Pakistan getting their campaign off to a winning start. I wouldn’t normally bet on the outcome of a match on this ground because dew often plays a significant part but the Pakistan odds are enough to reel me in as a value bet and it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that they could defend a score with their attack if necessary.
The majority of the Pakistan players who will line up here were in the Netherlands for their ODI trip recently so they will be up to speed and one of the ones who wasn’t is Mohammad Hasnain who has been in The Hundred. They have all been playing cricket but the same can’t be said of the likes of half of the potential India team for this match. Pakistan walloped India in the T20 World Cup here last year in what was the opening game of the tournament for a rusty Indian outfit then. Lightning might just strike twice here.
Tips
Back Pakistan to beat India for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with BetVictor
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