After last Wednesday (September 19) clash, India and Pakistan are ready to face each other once again in the Asia Cup 2018 on Sunday (September 23) and this time in the Super Four Stage at Dubai International Cricket Stadium (Dubai). The winner of the Sunday’s clash will move one step closer to reach to the tournament final.
In their group stage clash, India clinched a comfortable 8-wicket victory (with 126 balls remaining) after bundling out their arch-rivals Pakistan for just 162 runs in 43.1 overs. Indian cricket team totally dominated over their opponents in that game and wants to repeat it once again on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is looking to give the perfect reply to the Indian cricket team on the same day. They are determined to don’t repeat the similar mistakes again on Sunday’s clash.
Both India and Pakistan won their respective first matches of the Super Four round in the ongoing Asia Cup against Bangladesh and Afghanistan respectively on this Friday (September 21). While India accounted a comfortable seven-wicket victory (with 82 balls remaining) against Bangladesh, Pakistan just secured a thrilling three-wicket victory (with 3 balls remaining) against Afghanistan.
Indian bowlers are doing a great job in this tournament as they have dominated in the last two games. Meanwhile, the Indian top-order batsmen are also doing a good job while their middle-order batting haven’t been fully tested yet. In overall, the Indian cricketers are developing in their skills with the time progresses. However, they haven’t faced many challenges yet in this tournament.
Also read: Predicted XI Of India For The Game Against Pakistan
On the other hand, Pakistan players are struggling in some crucial moments. While their bowlers are losing focuses in the crucial stages, the old-Pakistan batting story have been opened out once again where they failed to carry on the good momentums.
Full squads
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Siddarth Kaul, Dinesh Karthik, Khaleel Ahmed, Ravindra Jadeja.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt/wk), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul Haq, Babar Azam, Shan Masood, Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, Usman Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir.
Key Stats Preview:
- In the Asia Cup history, it is the only second time when India and Pakistan are going to meet for more than once in the single edition. Previously, they faced each other twice in the 2008 Asia Cup in Pakistan where both teams won one match each.
- In an international cricket tournament that consisted of at least four teams, it happened five times when India and Pakistan have met more than once. However, they never met more than twice in those tournaments. Only once, India have beat Pakistan twice in the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket in Australia (1984/85). In the 2007 ICC World T20, India tied once (India won by 3-0 through the bowl-out) and won once (in the final).
