Asia Cup: Preview of Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka & Bangladesh vs India
It was the perfect start to the Asia Cup as the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka went down to the wire and finally in a game of nerves, Sri Lanka with the help of their ace fast bowler Lasith Malinga grabbed 5 wickets for only 34 runs. It also included the match winning last wicket of Pakistan’s Muhammad Asif and came out as winners with a 16 run margin.
Both sides played exceptionally well and thus there were not many stages in the match in which any of the two teams seemed to be in complete dominance of the other. Even till the end it was up to the number of wickets that either Pakistan could hold on to or Sri Lanka could bowl out that decided the fate of the game.
It started with the hosts batting first; Pakistan’s bowling attack did well consistently to take wickets at regular intervals and thus kept a check on the scoring speed of the Sri Lankan batsmen.
Pakistan’s returning fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar made an impressive return back into International cricket with a spell of 3 wickets in 10 overs and conceding 41 runs. He looked in much better form and rhythm than ever before and to the relief of the Pakistan camp, his line and length was also fairly consistent.
Even Shoaib Malik managed to bowl well in the middle over and thus by the 37th over Pakistan managed to reduce Sri Lanka to 168 for 7. However in the light of what the eventual outcome of the match was, it was here that the Pakistani bowlers’ could not seal the deal, as Sri Lanka managed to post a final total of 242 for the loss of 9 wickets.
Pakistan’s start to the chase was nothing less than pathetic, as the young blood that Pakistan has induced seemed clueless in handling the pace and bounce of the Sri Lankan bowlers. It was almost so that either all the batsmen before Afridi were incompetent of or just simply uninterested in the chase.
However with Captain Shahid Afridi stepping in the entire map of the match, it started to tilt in Pakistan’s direction. Afridi came in when Pakistan was 32 for 4 and by the time Sri Lanka finally managed to get rid of him, Afridi had made his 5th one day international century and Pakistan were only 39 runs away from home.
But Malinga made sure that after losing Afridi Pakistan does not get a chance to stand back up, as he produced a lethal three-over spell inside the batting Power play to demolish the tail off.
So with one game down, Pakistan now needs to win their remaining two matches especially the one against their arch rivals India, where as Sri Lanka, if they win from Bangladesh are almost certain to make it to the finals of the Asia Cup.
India starts their Asian cup campaign today, with their first match against the minnows Bangladesh. India’s senior superstars are back in the side, however psychologically the Indian would still be under pressure as their recent debacle against the Zimbabweans has taught them not to take weaker teams for granted.
However, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains confident that his team will perform well and that they are under an experimentation phase right now to find new talent for the upcoming ICC World Cup next year and this experimentation he says although will continue but they will ensure that the standard especially against teams like Bangladesh does not drop.
India has a 50% win record at the Dambulla International Stadium, where Bangladesh will be playing their first ever one dayer at this very stadium in today’s match. Another confidence booster for India would be the fact that out of their 21 international matches against Bangladesh they have only ever lost two.
Comparing the strengths of the two teams, if we look at Bangladesh only one particular name comes to mind, who has the capability and track record of standing against any team in the world and that is their batsman Tamim Iqbal, who combines both power with elegance.
The Indian side on the opposite end has the comfort factor of having one of the best side in the world in terms of star power with names such as Virender Sehwag Gautham Gambhir, M S Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar. Now the only question mark remains on whether these players fire at the right time.
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