Debate: Are Pakistan ready to take on India in Mirpur?

Two of our writers debate whether Men in Green are ready to take on their neighbours in 2016 Asia Cup

KARACHI: With archrivals Pakistan and India set to clash on February 27 in Mirpur in Asia Cup 2016, two of our writers debate whether the Men in Green are ready to take on their neighbours in the highest profile match of the tournament.

Pakistan can upset India: Emmad Hameed

PHOTO: AFP

On the back of two record thumpings, only an extraordinarily adventurous punter would put his money on a Pakistan win in their next T20I — against India at Asia Cup 2016.

New Zealand beat Pakistan out of sights in Hamilton and Wellington — by 10 wickets and 95 runs respectively — so why back the Men in Green in a high octane, nerve-racking clash with their present bunch of largely ‘chicken-hearted’ cricketers?



The very reason that they are down and out is reason enough to back cricket’s most mercurial international outfit. Historically, India are one opposition that bring the absolute best out of Pakistan — at least in non-ICC events — and the Asia Cup is thankfully nothing more than a last minute ‘adjustment’ in an already packed schedule leading up to the ICC World T20.

The chicken-hearted can be expected to perform some daredevil stunts and pull off an extraordinary heist in the Bangladesh cricket hotbed of Mirpur.

PHOTO: AFP

The very venue that two years ago produced one of the most nail-biting encounters between the two rivals in the ODI format. Shahid Afridi clouted Ravichandran Ashwin for successive sixes, with only last man Junaid Khan at the other end for company — has there ever been a better adrenaline rush?



Outside the Javed Miandad six, no Indo-Pak game has ever provided such a gripping finale, the nerveless Afridi is presently the man at the helm of the T20I team.

Nearing the absolute end of a seemingly endless international career, Afridi is surely going to gear up for one last swing —  possibly his penultimate game against India — against an attack he has made a mockery off many a time.

The aging Pathan can’t be expected to bash a century since he only believes in playing at most 20 balls in T20Is these days.

But those 20 balls may well prove to be the difference between more pain for Pakistan fans and a passage of unbridled joy.

India just too strong for Pakistan: Taha Anis

PHOTO: AFP

The images and memories of Shahid Afridi’s back-to-back sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin against India in the last over of their 2014 Asia Cup group stage clash will forever be etched in legend and folklore, and with good reason. Such performances happen once in a lifetime, but unfortunately they have already happened in ours.



Despite their poor performances against Australia in the ODIs, India managed to claim the first T20I quite comfortably and the way their spinners bowled would be ominous, to say the least, for Pakistan.

India have always had one of the best, if not the very best, batting line-ups in world cricket but their bowling has long been a not-very-secret Achilles heel. Australia targeted them in the ODIs and came away with a convincing 4-1 series win but Pakistani batsmen can never be expected to be that efficient, nor that ruthless.

With Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja performing the way they did in the first T20I at the Adelaide Oval, there are precious few weaknesses for the Men in Green to exploit, especially with conditions much more conducive to spin in Bangladesh than they were in Australia.

Messrs Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are in devastating form, and the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina can click into gear at any moment. New Zealand batsmen brutally exposed Pakistan’s much vaunted bowling attack in the last two T20Is and it isn’t beyond Asia’s most explosive batting line-up to do the same.



Kohli and Ashwin will be key and the duo’s performance may well decide the winner. The off-spinner has an average of 22.33 in T20Is against Pakistan and a remarkable 11.27 in Bangladesh. The man from Chennai also raises his game in the big occasions and his average in T20I tournaments featuring more than two teams is 13.68, while being 14.57 in neutral venues. Incredibly, his economy is less than six across all these four parameters.

PHOTO: AFP

Kohli, on the other hand, has long been a thorn in Pakistan’s side and Bangladesh is one of his favourite places. The right-hander boasts an average of 75 against Pakistan and 106.33 in Bangladesh, along with impressive strike-rates.

Finally, the clash in Mirpur will be India’s second — having played the opener against Bangladesh on February — while Pakistan would be playing their first. In a match of small margins — both sides have won five Asia Cup ties apiece — this might well be the deciding factor.

India go into the match as firm favourites, and there is very little to suggest they won’t live up to the tag.

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