India face potential ‘banana peel’ in Pak on tricky track
In Short
Defending champions India take on Pakistan in the men's cricket gold-medal match at the Asian Games, featuring a star-studded squad and a thrilling spin battle on the cards.
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India face potential ‘banana peel’ in Pak on tricky track
Nagoya: World champions India, boasting a formidable line-up of T20 stars, will look to underline their supremacy on the cricket field when they take on Pakistan in the men’s gold-medal clash at the Asian Games on Saturday. Not an inch would be spared on 22 yards and off it, there is little or no chance of players shaking hands, having started the trend during Asia Cup last year, unlike their volleyball, TT or hockey counterparts who shook hands and hugged after end of their duels.
The standard of competition in cricket is pretty poor at the Games but the stakes of a nation that believes in using sport as a soft power, the significance of a gold medal, that too by beating Pakistan, is immense. Not often does a team win a gold medal by winning merely two matches but the persistent rainfall led to both India and Pakistan entering the final with easy wins in their respective semi-finals.
For interim head coach VVS Laxman and new T20 skipper Shreyas Iyer a final against a second rung Pakistan side led by Sahibada Farhan is like a ‘banana peel’. Battle between spinners of two sides The underlying moisture and bright sunshine has led to uneven bounce and good amount of turn makes the role of Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi important along with the legendary Burmah, whose skill-set has always been surface independent.
Even Abhishek Sharma will have a role to play if the turn on offer is more than significant. At the other end, Pakistan will depend on their two wrist spinners Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Moqim along with wrist spinners Saim and Arafat. The match will be won and lost in those 16 overs that spinners from either side will be bowling.
Teams
India: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Arshdeep Singh.
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Saim Ayub, Maaz Sadaqat, Usman Khan, Hasan Nawaz, Abdul Samad, Arafat Minhas, Mohammed Wasim, Ahmed Daniyal, Sufiyan Moqim, Abrar Ahmed, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Saad Masood, Haider Ali.
