🏏Asia Cup 🏆2022: India vs Pakistan🏏

Asia Cup 2022 - Match 2 on 28/08/2022 in Dubai

Group A: India vs Pakistan

India tactically more switched on, while Pakistan look too anchor-heavy.

The infrequency of India-Pakistan games, however, makes it a fascinating contest

Every time there is an Asia Cup around, its relevance is brought into question. Is it not enough that it brings together India and Pakistan for an actual game of cricket outside the World Cup and Champions Trophy? This edition has the potential of as many as three matches between them. It is not the case but even if the rest of the tournament is a facade to just find a way to have these teams play, it is worth it.

Indian batting's renaissance has arrived at a moment of reckoning. Time and effort have been meticulously spent in achieving a do-over since suffering a passive World Cup campaign - incidentally in UAE - last October. Starting Sunday, there's a chance of trialing it in a multi-team event for the first time. An opposition that calls UAE home, and barely loses there, should serve as a good starting point for India to gauge if this 180 degree batting transformation is likely to end their 15-year-long T20 World Cup trophy drought later this year.

In the last 10 months, India have improved their batting returns in each phase of the T20 innings, embracing the risks that come with the rewards of not playing conservatively, and now have the chance of committing to this chaos approach with a full-strength top-order. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli return from their respective breaks, giving VVS Laxman-Rohit Sharma duo a big call to make at the first step of this campaign. India have a 5-6-7 finishing axis of Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja while Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant have served as potent floaters, but this plan could undergo a tweak with their return to full-strength and an indicator of what the batting pecking order looks like.

For Pakistan, all concerns of rhythm and dilemma of selections are vis-a-vis their bowling. Shaheen Afridi's ouster from the tournament due to injury has already hamstrung Pakistan against an opposition that struggled to cope with the left-hander in past encounters. Now they're without Mohammad Wasim Jr. due to a training session injury.

Hasan Ali is back in the squad, but wasn't originally picked following an underwhelming year with the ball, and in Shahnawaz Dahani and Naseem Shah, Pakistan have two quicks with a combined experience of 2 T20Is. Babar Azam needs to be accurate with his left-armer-less bowling combinations, while leggie Shadab Khan too needs to hit the ground running in what will be his first T20I appearance since December 2021.

Pakistan🥳 ziada umeed nahi hai but still rooting for them😆

Pitch Report:

The world cup last year and all the IPLs in the UAE, where matches began at 6pm, are a clear indicator that Dubai tilts the scales heavily in favour of the chasing side. There is some tackiness early on, and there is dew to contend with for only one side, as opposed to both teams in case of late starts.

Weather Conditions:

According to reports from weather.com, the temperature of Dubai city of UAE on August 28 (Sunday) will be 39° Celcius during the day and fall to 30° Celcius at night. The sky will be clear during the day and night. The chances of rain are just 3% at night. Hence, the match will not be affected by rain.

India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2022 Playing XI (Probables)

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Pakistan: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani.

Where to watch?

India vs Pakistan match of Asia Cup 2022 will take place on August 28 (Sunday) at Dubai International Stadium in UAE. The match begins at 7:30 PM IST (6 PM local time).

In India

Star Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the Asia Cup 2022 in India. Hence, Star Sports will present the live telecast of the India vs Pakistan match. Disney+ Hotstar will present the live streaming.

In Pakistan

PTV and Ten Sports will present the live telecast of the match in Pakistan.

In Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, Gazi TV will telecast the live telecast of the match.

In Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Ariana TV will present the live-action of the match.

In Australia

Fox Sports will present the live action of the match in Australia.

In New Zealand

Sky Sports will present the live action of the match in New Zealand.

In South Africa

In South Africa, the SuperSport network will present the live-action of the match.

In the USA

Willow TV will present the live action of the match in the USA.

In the UK

In the UK, Sky Sports will present the live action of the match.

In the Middle East

In Middle Eastern regions like UAE, OSN Sports Cricket will present the live action of the match.

Indian batting's renaissance has arrived at a moment of reckoning. Time and effort have been meticulously spent in achieving a do-over since suffering a passive World Cup campaign - incidentally in UAE - last October.

Starting Sunday, there's a chance of trialing it in a multi-team event for the first time. An opposition that calls UAE home, and barely loses there, should serve as a good starting point for India to gauge if this 180 degree batting transformation is likely to end their 15-year-long T20 World Cup trophy drought later this year.

Raji, thank you for the thread and for tagging me. 🤗

What to expect: The impact of dew, that messes with teams that have to bowl second. India however, have trained for such an eventuality by choosing to bat first whenever possible since they last played there. In 16 T20Is after the 2021 World Cup, India have won 12 and lost just 3 in 16 games where they've batted first.

Head to head: In Asia Cups, India have a superior 8-5 win-loss record against Pakistan. Since 2010, India have won five of the six Asia Cup meetings between the two sides.

n the last 10 months, India have improved their batting returns in each phase of the T20 innings, embracing the risks that come with the rewards of not playing conservatively, and now have the chance of committing to this chaos approach with a full-strength top-order. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli return from their respective breaks, giving VVS Laxman-Rohit Sharma duo a big call to make at the first step of this campaign.

India have a 5-6-7 finishing axis of Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja while Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant have served as potent floaters, but this plan could undergo a tweak with their return to full-strength and an indicator of what the batting pecking order looks like.

"When there is an opportunity to try different combinations, we will try. Along the way, if we make mistakes or face difficulties, we're okay with that. We have spoken about it as a group, and there is nothing to fear."

Rohit Sharma says India will keep experimenting in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup

"Honestly, that [last World Cup] game is a thing of the past now. It won't have an impact on Sunday's match. I am completely focused on tomorrow's game. The teams are kind of different, the conditions are different. Although as a side we are confident, we won't talk big ahead of the game. We wish to prove it on the field." Babar Azam doesn't want to be drawn into the hype of the last year's World Cup win.