After three fairly low key matches to kick off the Asia Cup the tournament really explodes into life on Saturday when the two powerhouses of cricket in that part of the world collide as India take on Pakistan.
There have been plenty of political issues taking centre stage with regards to these two in recent times but for once there can now be a full focus on some cricket and whenever these two nations are on the same field it is always a great occasion and I’m expecting no different here.
India have already played a match in this tournament, a match they won without too much fuss against Bangladesh but it could have been so different if Rohit Sharma wasn’t around. In the end a burst from him with the bat and a solid bowling effort was too much for the hosts.
The favourites went into the tournament with MS Dhoni under a bit of a fitness storm and he is still struggling with his back. He wasn’t at training on the eve of the match but he is expected to play. Parthiv Patel will come into the side if India’s captain is ruled out. Apart from that we can expect them to be unchanged.
Pakistan have had all sorts of things going on off the field but history tells us that is sometimes when they are at their most dangerous. We also know you never can predict what Pakistan are going to produce but when you look through their squad list it looks as strong as any in this tournament.
Despite the withdrawal of Babar Azam and the surprise absence of Sohaib Maqsood this is still a strong Pakistan unit particularly with the ball. Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Sami and Wahab Riaz are all very experienced at this level. Umar Akmal could excite with the bat.
We’ve seen in the tournament so far how the pitches have had something in them for the bowlers and given the amount to cricket to come I would imagine that will remain the case here and I think that will keep Pakistan interested.
These two nations have met six times in this format of the game and Pakistan have only won once. The most famous meeting of the two was back in 2007 when India beat their rivals in the final of the World T20 that year.
With all the seam movement and the pace on offer in the wickets in this tournament I think Pakistan are worth chancing here. We saw India’s batting completely fail in similar conditions against Sri Lanka’s pace attack in their series not long ago and this Pakistan attack looks infinitely better than the Sri Lankan one did on that day.
Ultimately the question will probably be whether Pakistan can put up enough runs to be competitive in the game but at the price they are to win the game I’m prepared to take that chance given how deep they bat.
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