The arch-rivalry between India and Pakistan will resume on October 23 when the two Asian giants collide in front of a hundred thousand-plus strong crowd at the iconic MCG for their Super 12 round match at the T20 World Cup 2022.
India will aim for revenge on Pakistan for their 10-wicket thrashing at last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and for knocking them out of the Asia Cup a month ago. India certainly has an improved team from last year’s T20 WC, but there are also a couple of weak links, especially given the opposition is as strong and solid a unit as Pakistan.
In this article, we discuss India’s two weakest aspects ahead of their game against Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2022:
Openers facing Pakistan fast bowers with the new ball
It was Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Irfan before, now it is Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf – all three of them have hurt India with the new ball in the powerplay in the last three clashes between the two teams.
Afridi rattled both the Indian openers last year in the T20 World Cup; Naseem Shah castled KL Rahul and Haris Rauf dismissed Rohit Sharma in their Asia Cup 2022 encounters not long ago.
Even though Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are two the most accomplished, successful and experienced openers in the T20 World Cup, they will be vulnerable when they face the rollicking Pakistani fast bowling attack in the powerplay this Sunday. Whether they are able to tackle them and not lose their wicket or not could be decisive.
Death bowling
India’s weakest link that has emerged in the last couple of months is the death bowling. In the absence of the injured Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian pacers have been taken to the cleaners. Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, followed by Australia and South Africa in home series – Indian bowlers had a tough time containing the opposition batters’ onslaught in the death overs that cost them some of the matches.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, and Arshdeep Singh – all had largely troublesome times when bowling in the death overs in these games, despite them being amongst the best death bowlers in the past IPL seasons. All three are in contention to play against Pakistan.
And so is Mohammed Shami, who recently made his comeback in the warm-up game with a good last over, but Shami also has a poor record in death overs in IPL, which has been masked by his good numbers with the new ball in the powerplay.
