India and Pakistan will face off in the fourth game of the Asia Cup 2016 T20 2016 at Dhaka on Saturday. Both the nations are up on their feet and all set to witness the captivating encounter between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. As Twenty20 (T20) is acknowledged as a batsman’s game yet there are certain bowlers who prove their worth in gold with their immaculate bowling. The three matches played so far in the Asia Cup witnessed green top pitches and have assisted the pace bowlers massively. This means a team’s success will highly depend on how their bowlers fare.
Suraj Choudhari introspects the bowling attack of both the sides and suggests Pakistan’s armour looks more dreadful. The pitches so far have been uncharacteristic in nature and not the typical Bangladeshi wickets. It has hardly assisted the spinners, which has been India’s strength. They have produced enough bounce and the batsmen have found it difficult to get away when the ball is pitched on right areas. Surprisingly, all the three games of the tournament played so far didn’t see any big score barring the Indian innings. Wickets kept tumbling and fast bowling has been the key behind every successful team.
Pakistan’s pace battery hails of Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Sami. It is likely that they would play the likes of Riaz, Irfan and Aamer in the playing XI for their first game of the tournament against India. These names wear a fearsome look on paper and inspire confidence on the field. Though the troika of these three are left-arm pacers but all of them are different bowlers.
Riaz has led the Pakistan’s pace battery with unparalleled confidence in the recent times and has enhanced as a bowler. He looks astute and adapted to the conditions in order to meet the requirements of such format. He was instrumental for his side Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) where he had 15 scalps to his name in nine outings at a confounding average of 16.33 and decent economy of 7.13. His forte is control and ability to move the ball both ways especially away from the right-hander. Riaz’s is also one of the best short ball bowlers of the game and if there is any help in the wicket he will be the man for Pakistan to get it exploited.
Irfan on the other hand, is one bowler who relies on bounce and is well capable to extract that extra bit of bounce from any surface using his lanky height. His tall composure also allows him to bowl effective Yorkers in the death overs. Aamer on his comeback has looked good, the pace still exists and the late movement can prove to be lethal on bowling friendly wickets of Bangladesh. Pakistan will have enough options as compared to India when it comes to pace bowling.
For India, they would prefer not to disturb their winning combination and will probably go in with the same playing XI. Their pace artillery consists of Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. They have done a commendable job with the ball in chipping early wickets and keeping the batsmen under check but when a comparison is drawn, Pakistani’s attack holds an upper hand by far.
Nehra has been impressive and stunned everyone with his comeback at this age. He’s a testament to the belief that ‘age is just a number’. He steamed in and got the ball to swing but has been erratic on many occasions. Nehra means business as he has been among the wickets and has immense experience in his basket but on a whole, Pakistan’s bowling attack is definitely better. Pandya has been more of a back up bowler and is yet to make an impression with the ball, whereas Pakistan has all three established bowlers in their line up. Bumrah lacks experience; he has shown enough mettle and has the makings of a great bowler. His unique action is deceiving and possesses raw pace, equally equipped to bowl in death but lack of experience in pressure situations might get the better of him. Still Nehra and Bumrah are match-winning bowlers and have done it in last few matches.
On the contrary, Dhoni doesn’t have enough options to rotate his bowlers as far as pace attack is concerned. He will have to use them cautiously and save few overs of theirs in the death whereas Shahid Afridi finds himself in a better position. Pakistan has three pacers who can put in the hard yards at any moment of the match; their skipper can manoeuvre his bowlers as per the situation demands –with the new ball as well as death. READ: Asia Cup T20 2016: India do not need to score more than 130 runs to beat Pakistan, says Kapil Dev
If the pitch assists spin, India will definitely have a higher hand as they have Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the attack. But Pakistan too possesses quality spin as Afridi, Mohammad Nawaz and Shoaib Malik can bowl some effective spin and get the job done for their team. Afridi is a proven match-winner in this format and will be difficult to deal with. On a whole, looking at the overcast conditions, dew factor and bowler-friendly pitches, Pakistan has a better bowling attack than India.
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