India will look to continue their impressive run and register a second straight win over Pakistan today while Sarfraz & Co must iron out the chinks in their armour
India skipper Rohit Sharma and Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed
It's a battle within the battle. That's how the Asia Cup games between India and Pakistan are being viewed by their fans. The first round has gone to India and the Pakistani supporters are expecting a fitting reply by their team when the two meet again, in the Super Fours at the Dubai International stadium here today. India look the most settled side in the tournament, while Pakistan have had their struggles, just about managing to overcome Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
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India's bowing unit has been quite impressive, especially seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. The duo have provided initial breakthroughs to open the avenue for the spinners to tighten the noose. With stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma in top form, India have had no difficulty in overhauling their easy targets against both Pakistan and Bangladesh. At stake is a berth in the final. Having won their respective opening Super Fours games, the team coming up trumps in today's match will almost be assured of a berth in the championship match.
Clinical approach
“We have been clinical in our last two games and hope to repeat that performance against Pakistan,” Rohit said on the clash with their arch-rivals. “We got to go back and recover. It's good that tomorrow [Saturday] is a day off. We will come back refreshed for the match against Pakistan,” the skipper said on Friday. “It was a great effort by everyone [in the game against Bangladesh] and I don't want to single out anyone. But there is no doubt that our bowling has been outstanding in tough conditions. It was a challenge for us, but I think they [bowlers] have responded well. We always knew that if we stuck to tight lines, wickets would come. For [Ravindra] Jadeja, playing an ODI after a long time and to come out and bowl like that was a great effort,” Rohit said.
Pakistan's fielding concerns
On the other hand, Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed was circumspect. “In the game against Afghanistan we had a terrible fielding day. We'll have to address that in the match against India. Chasing 257 was not easy on that [Abu Dhabi] pitch and against the best three spinners in their ranks. It is good that we came out on top and will take that confidence into the India match. We will have to bat sensibly and ensure good partnerships,” he said.
India, on the other hand, have relied on the good run of their top order, thus the middle-order remains untested in the tournament. The team management promoted MS Dhoni ahead of Dinesh Karthik to give him some valuable time in the middle. It needs to be seen if the middle and lower order will be up to the task if it falls upon them to guide the batting in case the top order comes a cropper. Whatever the form and conditions, India-Pakistan clashes generate a lot of passion among fans and for them nothing short of a win is acceptable.
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