Confident India start as favourites vs Pakistan
September 23, 2018  16:03
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Welcome the coverage of the Super Four match between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday.

India are eyeing a place in the final after three wins in as many matches, while Pakistan will look to step up their game in the Super Four match, after a scare against Afghanistan.

India will go into the encounter in a confident frame of mind after their eight-wicket victory against Pakistan in the group game three days ago. After being made to work hard by minnows Hong Kong in their tournament opener, India got their act together in the much-awaited group game against Pakistan and produced a clinical display to make short work of Sarfraz Ahmed's team.

Chasing a small target, India were hardly tested as a half-century from captain Rohit Sharma ensured that the team was home with as many as 21 overs to spare.

Even without their talismanic captain Virat Kohli, the Indian batting looked formidable and lived up to the billing by scoring freely on surfaces that are not really perfect for stroke-play.

Opening the innings, Rohit was at his fluent best against Pakistan and followed that up with another fine knock of 83 in the seven-wicket win over Bangladesh, more than making up for the failure against Hong Kong.

Rohit's opener partner, Shikhar Dhawan found himself amongst the runs after a torrid time in England's seaming conditions, scoring in all three matches, including a century against Hong Kong.

India will look to the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah to make the initial breakthroughs and put Pakistan on the backfoot before the spinners are introduced.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are the two mainline spinners, but it was part-time spinner Kedar Jadhav, who picked up the most number of wickets among the slow bowlers in the last game against Pakistan.

Coming back to the ODI side after more than a year, Ravindra Jadeja marked the occasion with a fine four-wicket haul against Bangladesh, and he seems hungry for more.

Opener Fakhar Zaman, who made a name for himself with a match-winning hundred against India in the final of Champions Trophy last year, flopped in their first game of the Asia Cup.

Fakhar will look to make amends and so will be the likes of batsmen Babar Azam, Sarfraz and Iman-ul-Haq.

Pakistan's another cause of concern is the form of their strike bowler Mohammad Aamir, who has not been among the wickets in recent time.
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