The Rivalry: With India miles ahead of Pakistan, contest lacks on-ground hype

A spoilt-for-choice Indian squad will be the favourite by a mile against arch-rivals Pakistan here on Sunday in their Asia Cup encounter which is strangely devoid of any hype despite border tensions that have only risen in the past few months.

There is no dearth of context in the contest with a T20 World Cup set to be played in India in four months’ time. But for the first time in many years, a cricket match between India and Pakistan, that too scheduled on a Sunday, lacks the kind of high-pitched narrative that always comes with the territory.

There are batters like Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, a pacer like Jasprit Bumrah, spinners of Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy’s calibre in the Indian playing XI. The Indians look way more menacing on paper compared to Pakistan, who are trying to find their feet under new skipper Salman Ali Agha.

However, considering the fickle nature of the format, there is always the chance of an upset but against this Indian team, the probability remains low.

One of the most talented batters in Pakistan’s line-up, opener Saim Ayub, middle-order willow-wielder Hasan Nawaz and the troika of spinners in Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeen and Mohammed Nawaz would love to prove a point in a new look team that dumped the philosophy of depending heavily on Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan.

The political pitfalls

The terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 tourists, began the most recent worsening of relations between the two countries.

The ensuing military operation and the public anger have played a role in the very muted build-up to the most high-profile match of the continental cricketing showpiece.

With thousands of tickets still available and very few fans turning up at the India practice on Friday, the festive excitement surrounding the match is missing.

The social media calls for a boycott by India has found resonance to an extent and as a result, no one knows how many BCCI officials, who otherwise make a beeline during marquee events, will turn up on Sunday.

The Government of India has allowed national team’s matches against the bitter rivals at multi-nation tournaments but not at the bilateral level.

The travelling media is also aiming to spice up things but predictably, representatives of both nations have dead batted any probing queries which even remotely touch on politics.

Battle of spinners

Normally, an Indo-Pak match has been about Indian batters locking horns with Pakistani pacers but this time around, the spinners of both sides will have a significant role to play considering that Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Shah Afridi are the only specialist pacers who will be seen in action on Sunday.

Although the pitch isn’t offering a significant turn, the presence of one right-arm wrist spinner and one left-arm wrist spinner each in both sides makes for a fascinating sub-plot.

Sufiyan Muqeem is a good bowler but nowhere close to a much craftier Kuldeep Yadav, whose googly has been unplayable from the hand.

Abrar Ahmed’s leg-breaks and quirky celebrations have gained him a lot of fans across Pakistan but Varun Chakravarthy, with an element of mystery attached to his art form, can mess with minds of Pakistani batters.

He could especially be tough for young guns like Saim Ayub, Shahibzad Farhan, who aren’t reading spinners from their hands.

Last but not the least, Mohammed Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, ranked 30^th in actual ICC rankings but at the zenith according to his coach Mike Hesson isn’t a patch on Axar Patel, who is the most valuable yet low profile player in the Indian line-up.

Brittle Batting line-up

More than bowling, it is the batting line-up of India that will make Pakistan anxious.

Gill, Abhishek, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, and Shivam Dube can butcher any bowling attack on their day.

When it comes to all-rounders—Faheem Ashraf is not comparable to Hardik in terms of match-winning ability.

These are players who can take pitch out of the equation at any given point of time.

If India are wary of any one particular bowler in the Pakistan line-up, then it has to be Shaheen, who has fond memories at this ground in 2021. He had dismissed KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and some overs later, Virat Kohli, to set up a nice T20 World Cup group league win for his country.

But post knee surgery, Shaheen hasn’t been half the bowler he was and the late swing and off the pitch movement has gone missing.

The key for India will be to figure the ideal batting line-up. Sanju Samson’s slot will be vital and so will be that of Dube, whose assigned task will be to take down the spinners in the middle overs.

The noise may be absent, but the stakes remain high. Because when India and Pakistan take the field, hype or no hype, the world stops to watch.

Teams (from):

India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Sahibzada Farhan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali Hasan Ali, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Mohammad Wasim Jr.

Match starts at 8 PM.