Asia Cup 2023: All-round Pakistan the biggest threat as India aim for eighth continental title

Rohit Sharma will be gearing up for what could be one of the most crucial phases of his career as India begin their Asia Cup campaign with a blockbuster clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday in Pallekele.

Age is starting to catch up with Rohit after all and India’s performance at the Asia Cup as well as in the ICC World Cup that takes place in India right after will go a long way in deciding the 36-year-old’s future as captain, at least in the ODI format. There are talks of a transition in the Indian team across formats, and these two events will play a major role in shaping the future course of the side.

His immediate focus, though, will be on the continental tournament that takes place in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where the Men in Blue will be eyeing their seventh title in the ODI format and their eighth overall.

Read | What India and other World Cup-bound teams will be hoping to achieve in Asia Cup

India won consecutive editions of the tournament in 2016 (T20I) and 2018 (ODI), remaining undefeated in both and taking their title count to seven. They would however, relinquish their hold on the trophy in last year’s edition in the UAE following Super Four defeats against Pakistan and eventual winners Sri Lanka, bowing out with a consolation win against Afghanistan in which Virat Kohli ended a three-year wait for an international ton.

Though they retain their favourites tag entering the tournament, Rohit and Co will know that the path to an eighth Asian title will be far from easy. Especially due to the manner in which Pakistan is firing on all cylinders at the moment. As well as the fact that a majority of the matches in the ‘Hybrid Model’ that hosts Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have been forced to adopt take place in Sri Lanka’s backyard.

The Pakistan challenge

While India are expected to come out on top against a side like Nepal, who were handed a 238-run mauling on Asia Cup debut on Wednesday, they will likely face a stiff challenge from Pakistan, defending champions Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even Afghanistan — known to spring a surprise against the top sides more often than not.

Pakistan, however, are expected to pose the toughest challenge to the Indians, and the two (or potentially three) face-offs between the two South Asian rivals are expected to be closely-fought affairs.

The Babar Azam-led side is perhaps the most complete side at the moment — their top three have been among the top run-scorers in recent years, and their pace trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah are decimating the best of batting units and they also have a valuable spin/all-round option in Shadab Khan. Their one key area of concern was the middle order, and even that appears to be in good hands right now in the hands of Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed.

Team India matches them in every department — they too have the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in their top three and the bowling department appears a lot more complete now with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna joining Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. And left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav appear quite the potent combination for the middle-overs along with seam-bowling all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur.

Read | Sanjay Manjrekar predicts India-Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 final

The battle that will define the Indo-Pak contests in this Asia Cup, as has been the case for a major part of their rivalry, will be the one between the Indian batters and the Pakistani bowlers. More specifically, between the India top-order and the Pakistani pace trio.

Pakistani left-arm pacers, after all, have been India’s bane in high-profile contests in recent years, whether it was Mohammad Amir in the 2017 Champions Trophy final at the Oval or Afridi in the 2021 T20 World Cup group match in Dubai. Rauf too had got the better of the Indian top-order in the 2022 T20 World Cup game in Melbourne, producing a spell that would have resulted in a Pakistani victory had it not been for Kohli’s knock of a lifetime.

Read | We will use our experience against Pakistani pacers, says Rohit Sharma

While Rohit and Kohli have been the common factor in each of the aforementioned matches, with the former hoping to come up with a much better response to the fast, inswinging deliveries this time around, the Pakistani attack will be facing a new challenge in the form of Shubman Gill. The young Gujarat Titans opener took over as Rohit’s opening partner with KL Rahul getting shifted to the middle-order and given his incredible run throughout the year across formats as well as in the Indian Premier League, he could be a key threat from Pakistan’s perspective.

And barring Afridi, who had squared off against Gill in the 2018 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, none of the Pakistani bowlers have the experience of bowling to the 23-year-old.

Questions over middle-order, pace unit

There are questions over India’s middle-order as well as the pace-bowling unit heading into their opening game of the tournament.

While India’s No 4 slot appears to be in safe hands with the tried-and-tested Shreyas Iyer regaining full fitness ahead of the marquee tournaments, Rahul will miss out on the group fixtures as he is yet to achieve hundred per cent fitness, with doubts persisting on his participation in the remainder of the tournament even if the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel was confident enough to name him in the squad.

Read | How India can deal with new problem following Rahul’s fresh injury

In Rahul’s absence, Team India will have to pick Ishan Kishan given he is the designated backup wicket-keeper, meaning Tilak Varma might have to wait a little longer to make his first appearance in a major multi-nation event in the Indian kit. While Rahul would have normally batted at No 5, the team leadership might be tempted to send vice-captain Pandya ahead of Kishan depending on the match situation.

As for the spin department, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav will primarily be sharing the workloads throughout the campaign with Axar Patel acting as Jadeja’s direct back-up in the squad.

Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid however, have quite the problem of plenty when it comes to their pace unit with Bumrah and Krishna making triumphant returns from year-long absences in the recent tour of Ireland, and being available for the Asia Cup and the World Cup.

Shami and Siraj had been bowling with the new balls in their absence and did a pretty good job at that. Skipper Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid though will have to make the tough choice of choosing one of the two to operate with the new ball alongside Bumrah.

Read | Shami insists he doesn’t have any ego when it comes to bowling with new or old ball

Though Krishna’s been a valuable option in the middle overs in ODIs and also made an impressive start in T20Is in Ireland, he — like Axar — will likely be relegated to the bench for now with Pandya, or even Shardul Thakur, being tasked with bowling the middle overs along with the spinners.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (wk) (travelling standby)

LIVE streaming: The Asia Cup 2-23 will be broadcast on Starr Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar.