Dhaka: There will hardly be any reason to miss out on Super Saturday’s much hyped mother of all matches as India continue their bitter sweet rivalry on the pitch facing arch-nemesis Pakistan in the Asia Cup. The mouth-watering encounter has always been witness to nail-biting finishes in front of packed stadiums and tomorrow’s match is going to be nothing short of a grand spectacle.
While Pakistan hold the edge over India in limited overs and Tests, India have the edge in the shortest format of the game having won four out the six matches they faced. The first T20 played between the two nations on September 14, 2007 in the World T20 ended up in a tie with India scampering away with a win in the bowl-out.
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In 12 editions of the Asia Cup, India and Pakistan have never met in the final. India have lifted the continental crown five times while Pakistan twice. However, when it comes to head-to-head battles in the biennial tournament, its five all but unlike the other 10 battles which were ODI, this tournament has been reduced to 20 overs keeping in mind the ICC World T20 next month.
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However, even though India are hot favourites on Saturday, a there may be slight chances of a Pakistan win. Here’s why:
Afridi trump card
Pakistan’s most experienced player in the side and now skipper Shahid Afridi has been a menace for Team India both with the bat and ball. When on a roll ‘Boom boom’ Afridi can torment any bowling opposition and will be difficult to curtail run flow from Afridi’s willow. With the ball too, along with Afridi (91), Umar Gul (85) and Saeed Ajmal (85) add to a total of 214 wickets in Twenty20 internationals.
Mohammad Amir factor
Indian batsman with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli are in splendid form but the return of young pacer Mohammad Amir after his fixing ban could pose a threat to the Indian run flow. If the Mirpur wicket turns out to be as exciting as it was during the Bangladesh match, then Amir, who was been among the wicket-takers for Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League, can solely be responsible to uproot the Sharmas, Kohlis and Dhonis Team India have.
Slow wicket not good for India
Indian batsmen have always found it a problem to get going on slower pitches. If the Shere Bangla stadium has such kind of a strip to offer, then run scoring can get a tad bit difficult. When runs are falling short, many veterans including former India skipper Rahul Dravid said that the Indian batmen crumble under pressure.
Mauka man satisfied
If there’s one reason Pakistan would want to win Saturday’s encounter it would be for the ‘mauka’ man. The ‘mauka’ ads were a huge hit during the ICC World Cup last year specially during India’s matches.
