By Niharika Raina New Delhi, Aug 27 : August is usually considered to be the most hot month for travel to Dubai.As temperatures in the daytime ranging between 40 to 41 degrees, or even exceeding them, tourists are stuck in the dilemma of whether to venture out into the city and be sweltering with the heat or stay in their room with air conditioning on and take in the cool air.
In this midst of extreme heat in Dubai the Asia Cup, in its 15th edition, begins.As is the norm, there will be an India-Pakistan matchscheduled on Sunday, that has been able to capture an enormous chunk of attention ahead of the six-team contest.
In the midst of the scorching heat the atmosphere in Dubai will be just a couple of levels higher when the most ferocious rivalry in the world of cricket begins on Sunday.Although the social media buzz has been mostly quiet when the game gets underway the excitement of the match between India and Pakistan will keep the internet users busy.
Both India and Pakistan will enter the match on Sunday with no pace spearheadsthe – Jasprit Bumrah as well as Shaheen Shah Afridi.While Bumrah is suffering from an injury to her back, Afridi is missing due to an injury to his right knee ligament.
Afridi will be a major mistake for Pakistan as he scored 331 in the course of his four runs.He also was named the ‘Player of the Match’ in a 10-wicket victory in the last time these two teams played in the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2021 at the venue, which is now fully prepared to host the Sunday’s Asia Cup Group A match.
In the absence of Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan were given the chance to build their respective cases to be included in the men’s T20 World Cup squad.In the absence of Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jr., Hasan Ali, who was not in the initial Asia Cup squad due to slowdown in form and has been given the chance to prove that he has the potential in the right direction to secure the chance to play in the World Cup apart from Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dhani Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah.
Sunday’s game also will mark an ominous India batter Virat Kohli’s 100th T20I appearance, as well as his first international match since he played in the third ODI in England on the 17th of July.It also makes Kohli the only player (after New Zealand’s Ross Taylor) to clock 100 appearances in all three formats of international cricket.
Kohli the former India captain, hasn’t made an obscene century in international cricket since the month of November 2019 and has played just four T20I matches for India this year.Kohli’s return to cricket following an absence of more than a month and half adds more glamour to the battle between the two arch-rivals.
With only 50 days remaining to go until the Men’s T20 World Cup to take place in Australia, India will be eager to find out what Kohli as well as KL Rahul will fit in the ultra-attacking approach that is being embraced by the team that has proven to be very positive and a refreshing change from last year’s slow batsman style.
They also have to decide between Rishabh Pant’s left-handedness, or Dinesh Karthik’s last-minute feats in the eleventh.
For Pakistan aside from the fact that they lack any experience or the lack of variety in their line-up of pace bowlers It will be interesting to observe how their batting is performed.
In recent times, their top three of captain Babar Azam as well as wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman make up the majority of the scoring.
Without Shoaib Malik or Mohammad Hafeez in the middle to finish the job, it is all on Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed and young Haider Ali to take the lead in an environment to put in the necessary final touches.
If the cricket gods are in the mood that they are, two more India-Pakistan matches could occur in the Asia Cup, including the final.However, for the moment, Sunday’s match will be enough to boost the blockbuster count, in the event that India and Pakistan play each other regardless of whether the heat is at its peak or not.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali (subject to approval by ETC), Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir.
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