India and Pakistan, the most fierce rivalries in cricket, are geared up for their first T20 match of the Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday at 7.30 pm. India and Pakistan rivalry is intense in the hearts of fans and all are looking forward to the match winner. With highly experienced players, both teams are full of confidence to take over the other. This could be their first of three meetings in the tournament.
The last time the teams met is in October 2021 for the T20 World Cup and in that game, Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets. Now, the two are getting ready for another round of an appealing battle in the Asia Cup 2022. The game is in T20 format and India will be looking to bounce back stronger in the game. While analyzing the records of previous matches, the men in blue are a little bit stronger and well-balanced team than Pakistan.
Since the last T20 World Cup, Pakistan has only played 3 T20I tournaments. On the other hand, India has played 6 T20 internationals in 2022 itself. Team India has changed its approach to the shortest format after the last T20 World Cup, with the new skipper Rohit Sharma’s aggressive approach. India will now be looking forward to getting back in the grove ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup.
India, the World’s number 1 team is with a handful of experienced batters. Over the years, the key highlights of the India-Pakistan match have been the face-off between Indian batters and Pakistan fast bowlers. But now, Pakistan has made remarkable improvements in their batting and they carry many vibrant and energetic top-order batters in their line-up. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is now 1st in the T20I batting rankings with 818 rating points.
On the other hand, India’s top order has Rohit Sharma, K L Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Suryakumar Yadav on the list. Each of these four batters has the capability to single-handedly take the game to next level. Rohit, Rahul, and Virat will be India’s biggest strengths in the tournament. Rohit Sharma may open the side with Suryakumar Yadav or Rishabh Pant, moving Virat Kohli and K L Rahul a bit lower down the order.
Pakistan has had one of the best opening pairs (Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan) in T20Is in the last couple of years. Rizwan has scored the most runs in T20Is in 2021 (1326 runs), and Babar just follows him with 939 runs. Another experienced Pakistan batter who may be at No:3 will be the left-hander Fakhar Zaman. He has got over 1200 runs in the T20I format.
When it comes to the middle order, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda can carry the game to the next level for India. Indian middle-order have high finishing capabilities nowadays. On the other hand, Pakistan has Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Asif Ali in their middle order.
For decades, Pakistan has been building world-class pacers. In this Asia Cup also, they have a heavy pace attack with them. Even though their head Shaheen Afridi is out of the squad due to injury, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammed Hasnain, and Shahnawaz Dahani will lead the pace attack.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel are out with injuries. But the trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Avesh Khan will bring a lot to the table.
When compared to Pakistan, India is far ahead in the aspect of all-rounders. Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Hooda, and R. Ashwin are there on the Indian side. For Pakistan Shadab Khan is the most experienced all-rounder.
With Yuzvendra Chahal and R. Aswin, India’s spin bowling has an advantage over Pakistan. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Bishnoi are perfect additions to the department. Pakistan had only the newbie Usman Qadir.
While looking at the overall picture, team India is dominating a little with the fine-tuned side compared with Pakistan. India has a perfect mix of players in 3 areas with top-order batters, spin bowlers, and all-rounders. But Pakistan team also have the capability to beat India if they are best on their day, as India experienced it in the T20 World Cup last year.
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