Cricket giants India and Pakistan may sq. up 3 times in the course of the two weeks of the T20 competitors in the United Arab Emirates.
FILE: India’s captain Virat Kohli walks into the sphere after India’s victory on the finish of the ICC males’s Twenty20 World Cup cricket match between India and Namibia on the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on November 8, 2021. Picture: Aamir Qureshi / AFP
DUBAI – India’s Virat Kohli has the prospect to search out kind earlier than the World Cup whereas Babar Azam will look to maintain Pakistan’s psychological edge when the rival nations clash as the headline acts of the Asia Cup beginning this weekend.
Cricket giants India and Pakistan may sq. up 3 times in the course of the two weeks of the T20 competitors in the United Arab Emirates.
The six-nation event was moved from Sri Lanka due to political unrest and it takes on further significance this 12 months as a result of the T20 World Cup in Australia is arising quick, in October and November.
Sri Lanka meet Afghanistan in Saturday’s opening match however all eyes will likely be on India and Pakistan, who clash in Dubai on Sunday.
India will likely be seeking to avenge their 10-wicket humiliation by Pakistan on the similar venue in final 12 months’s T20 World Cup, and skipper Rohit Sharma is making an attempt to maintain his gamers level-headed as the expectation and pleasure amongst followers hits fever pitch.
“Everyone watches the game and it’s a high-pressure game without a doubt, but within the group we want to create a normal atmosphere,” he informed Star Sports.
“We don’t want to hype this game too much. It’s important to tell the players who haven’t played against Pakistan or played them just one or two times that it’s just another opposition.”
India head coach Rahul Dravid has Covid and India late on Wednesday appointed former batsman VVS Laxman to take cost in an interim capability.
SHAHEEN INJURED
The match will likely be Kohli’s one hundredth T20 worldwide and an opportunity for the batting nice to emerge from his extended droop earlier than the World Cup.
The 33-year-old has not scored a century in any format since 2019 however must be refreshed after being rested for excursions of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.
Kohli, who has 27 centuries in 102 Tests, was changed by Rohit as all-format skipper earlier this 12 months.
Pakistan’s fortunes will primarily rely on in-form skipper Azam, recent from two massive half-centuries in his workforce’s 3-0 ODI sweep of the Netherlands.
Azam, 27, tops the world T20 and ODI batting rankings and led his workforce to victory final 12 months towards India with an unbeaten 68.
Pakistan have introduced in tempo bowler Mohammad Hasnain in place of Shaheen Shah Afridi, India’s T20 destroyer final 12 months, who has been compelled out by a knee damage.
Defending champions India, who received the final Asia Cup in 2018 when it was performed over 50 overs, and Pakistan will likely be joined in Group A by Hong Kong who defeated the UAE in the ultimate qualifier on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are in Group B.
The high two groups from every group progress to a Super 4 stage, which may witness one other contest between India and Pakistan.
The nice rivals may then meet for a 3rd time ought to they each attain the September 11 remaining.
Sri Lanka, led by Dasun Shanaka, might be the India-Pakistan party-poopers.
They are able to reaching the ultimate, having loved success in latest dwelling collection towards a backdrop of a dire financial disaster.
Victory would deliver some welcome cheer to the cricket-crazy island nation ravaged in latest months by meals and gasoline shortages and rolling blackouts.
Afghanistan have the flexibility to upset any facet, their ace being leg-spinner Rashid Khan, one of many world’s main T20 bowlers who can exploit and switch in the subcontinent-like UAE pitches.
Bangladesh have been boosted by the return of all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan to steer the workforce, who stated his precedence was to see an enchancment in performances of the struggling facet with the World Cup quick approaching.