India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2022: Men in Blue face challenges within themselves ahead of Super Four clash

India and Pakistan have set up another date on another Sunday after the first one was full of excitement, drama, intensity, and anticipation. The love affair between the two is well known for ages and though their relationship had a bad time for quite a while, Sunday’s match showed a newly-ignited spark between them.

The upcoming match is also expected to be played along the same lines with both teams looking equally strong and India’s win in the first match, in no manner, would ensure them of another victory in the Super Fours stage. In fact, Pakistan are only going to come harder at their opponents after losing the first match by a whisker.

India, in spite of finishing at the top of the group, will face several stiff challenges — challenges from within themselves and not just from their opponents. From top-order woes to inconsistent bowling, a few mistakes might cost them heavily as Pakistan will not give India an easy time on the field. Add to it Ravindra Jadeja’s absence and the problem will only multiply.

India’s top order woes

The Indian top order, on paper, is one of the most enviable but has failed to inspire in the first round of the tournament. Skipper Rohit Sharma seems to have forgotten the very approach he wants his team to adopt – scoring 33 runs off 31 balls in the two matches so far.

KL Rahul as well has looked lustre less after his comeback. While he was out for a golden duck against Pakistan, he struggled against the mediocre bowling attack of Hong Kong during his elongated stay at the crease. While he was able to hit a couple of good shots, he couldn’t time the rest of his shots well and also lost his wicket to a mistimed sweep edging to the wicketkeeper.

India have already experimented opening with Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant in recent times but will look to give KL Rahul an extended run, as his prime form will definitely be an asset.

The third cog in the top order is none other than the great Virat Kohli. He has shown signs of his imperious self, but he has been quite slow in his approach. After scoring a near-run-a-ball 35 against Pakistan, he played a similar innings against Hong Kong and was able to explode only towards the end of his innings. While that was his strength a few years back, it would have been better to see a more fluent Kohli right from the start, especially against a side like Hong Kong.

Read: ‘It’s about the contributions he makes, not how many runs’, says Dravid on Kohli

If not for Suryakumar, India would have ended their innings with a competitive total rather than a dominating one. The top order will face serious troubles against Naseem Shah who has proved very dangerous at the start of the innings.

Inconsistent bowling and the Avesh Khan trouble

While India were clinical in executing their bowling plans against Pakistan, the weakness in that department was unveiled against Hong Kong. The associate nation was able to score 152 for loss of just five wickets during their unsuccessful run chase.

While the experienced trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Ravindra Jadeja were up to the mark, none of them exceeding the economy of five per over, newcomers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan gifted Hong Kong plenty of loose deliveries and let them enjoy batting in the park.

While Arshdeep registered an economy of 11, Avesh gave away runs at 13.2 per over.

In fact, Avesh recorded an unwarranted feat, bowling at an economy of 9.10 in T20Is in a calendar year (2022), which is the worst for an Indian bowler (after bowling at least 25 overs).

India do not have any other fast bowler in their squad. While Hardik Pandya will boost the fast bowling department, Jadeja’s absence after suffering a knee injury might affect the spin department.

Rahul Dravid, on Saturday evening, said that Avesh has been under the weather for a few days and might miss out against Pakistan. Deepak Chahar was named as a standby for the tournament. But will he join the squad and play on Sunday?

Probably they will have Kohli bowl an over or two again!

Yuzvendra Chahal’s wicket-less spell

Chahal has been silent in this tournament so far. He has given 50 runs in his eight overs in two games but hasn’t been able to pick up a wicket. For India to build pressure in middle overs, Chahal has to be amongst wickets.

The quicks did the job in the first match, but as already mentioned, the bowling was exposed against Hong Kong. More so since Pakistan was able to dismiss the associate for the lowest Asia Cup total of 38 runs. India might be forced to play Ravichandran Ashwin against Afghanistan if Chahal finishes wicketless once again.

Ravindra Jadeja’s absence

The biggest hit the India team can get is to miss an all-rounder as good as Jadeja to an injury that he had recovered from, just a few days back. But India will have to learn to live without him since he might also be ruled out of the T20 World Cup in October-November.

Axar Patel is a like-for-like replacement to Jadeja – a left-arm spinner, left-hand batter, but can he hit the stumps from point or gully? More importantly, would Rohit and Dravid be convinced to send him to bat at number four to negate the opposition’s left-arm spinner?

India does lack a left-hand batter in their batting lineup, and with Jadeja out now, the think tank might be forced to play Rishabh Pant at the cost of Dinesh Karthik or some other player. Not sure if they can ask Yuvraj Singh to come out of his retirement.

Read: ‘Don’t want to jump to any conclusions’: Dravid on Jadeja’s availability

Pandya ensured that India didn’t lose against Pakistan on last Sunday. Will he once again stand up to the occasion? Or will someone else take up the mettle?

India face multiple questions before they get dressed for another exciting date, but then again, who doesn’t face questions, before going on a date?

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