India seek revenge, Pakistan eye domination as two Asian giants collide
KARACHI: With only a few hours to go before the action kicks off in the gleaming Dubai International Stadium for one of the biggest rivalries, cricket fever reaches its zenith as the two Asian giants and arch-rivals, Pakistan and India, meet today at the Asian Cup 2022 ongoing.
In less than a year, the arch-rivals will meet again, and they could do so three more times in the current year.
The two sides last met at the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup when Pakistan defeated arch-rivals India by a massive 10-wicket margin to claim their first triumph over the Men in Blue in a world cup game.
The humiliating defeat at the hands of Pakistan and then New Zealand halted India’s chances of securing a place in the semi-finals of the tournament.
The Men in Blue will therefore now seek to avenge their bitter defeat.
India, however, was rocked by injury ahead of the 2022 Asia Cup as their best pacemaker, Jasprit Bumrah, was ruled out of the continental event. While, Pakistan also suffered a similar setback in the way left arm pacemaker Shaheen Shah Afridi was ruled out due to a knee injury.
The Green Shirts then suffered another blow in their bowling department when Mohammad Wasim Jr also ruled out with injury. His dismissal left Pakistan with a relatively inexperienced fast bowling attack from which a debutant Naseem Shah will emerge in a high-octane clash.
The spinning attack will be the key point for the team that features Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz.
Despite Bumrah’s unavailability, India still has quite a strong attack, with the likes of Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Both parties will depend heavily on their superior order. Pakistan in the trio of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman.
While India will expect their top four Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav to soar.
Before taking the field in a highly anticipated clash, India played 22 T20Is in the current year and lost just four of them. The highest ranked T20 team did not lose any series in the same period.
Pakistan, on the other hand, played just one T20I in 2022, which came against Australia in April and lost by three wickets.
Aside from all these factors, another component that matters in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the launch and due factor. It is often said that the team that wins the draw in the UAE is more likely to win the match as well and the stats also proved that last time at the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
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Asian Cup: Matches-14, India-8, Pakistan-5, NR-1
