When Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in their Asia Cup match on Thursday, and with India due to play Bangladesh the following day, most pundits were predicting that today's hotly anticipated Pakistan-India clash would be a dress rehearsal for the final. The presumption of an India win on Friday and the two great rivals setting up the final was upended but the home team not only put cricketing trends into a spin, the tournament received the much-needed buzz.
Today's match, then, takes on the significance it was meant to have in the first place, especially for India, who desperately need to win not just to stand a chance of making the final but to turn the tide of recent woeful results. It also has an intriguing sub-plot -- for possibly the first time, the crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium will be overwhelmingly behind Pakistan (and not the usual polar support for the two teams); India's loss will put the home side in cool contention and they could seal it if they can beat Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
“We always enjoy playing in Bangladesh and the crowd has always supported us whenever we play against any other country,” said Pakistan opener Mohammad Hafeez at the pre-match press conference yesterday. “So that will be a good sign for us that the crowd will back us.”
On the field of play, it will be India who will have to do all the running, especially with a bowling attack that has been exposed as fragile and pedestrian. Their bowling was subjected to a fearful shellacking by the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan on Friday, so while India will be looking to maximise returns with the bat and controlling the damage with the ball, Hafeez
said that Pakistan will be looking to exploit that very weakness when they take on their arch-rivals.
“As far as the Indian attack is concerned we will take it as a positive,” said Hafeez. “They have a weaker side as a bowling unit, so we must have a plan on this and attack them. I personally feel that their bowling attack is not in good form at the moment, so we are going to try and exploit that weakness and demoralise their attack, so that we can control our batting too.”
Whenever India play Pakistan, the pressure the teams face is a popular topic of discussion. This time, there is the added dimension of their last encounter, India's 2011 World Cup semifinal victory.
“You cannot take revenge on anyone, but we will try to give our supporters the joy we could not give during that game,” said Hafeez, adding that in terms of pressure Pakistan are in a better position as they have already qualified for the final. “Whenever India play Pakistan there is pressure for both teams. Everyone wants their team to win. So I cannot deny that there will be pressure, there always is in these matches. But I feel that we will be more free because we have qualified for the finals.”
With the weather being foul yesterday, there is a possibility of rain interruptions in today's match. If the match cannot be completed today, it will go into a reserve day on Monday, and if then it cannot be completed, the points will be shared.
In this tournament India and Pakistan have beaten each other four times each in nine games (one being abandoned). Could that also be an incentive to the under-fire Indians?
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