http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-George-Burrows-c93472ries
Who doesn’t know that when it comes to cricket, bad blood between neighbours Pakistan and India is at its maximum. The two countries, who do not enjoy cordial relations are even more fierce and raring to have a go at one another.
Although Pakistan enjoys a superior record over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in the one-day format of the game, India on the other hand, have exhibited dominance in crunch tournaments.
Perhaps Pakistan players over the decades have failed to cope with the enormous pressure of playing against their sworn enemies and India have shown better character when under pressure.
Today’s (Sunday) Asia Cup game is the mother of all crunch games for India as they face elimination from the tournament if they do not get their act together after they were handed a shocking defeat by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556 had made his 100th century - a feat he achieved after a wait of almost more than a year.
Nonetheless, India faltered and while they gave an exuberant performance with the bat, their bowlers were just not up to speed and left their fans in utter disbelief after failing to defend a comfortable total.
This is the area where India need to focus, as they have got the best batsmen in their arsenal, but their bowling side is suffering and it really does not matter how much the batsmen put on the board, if the bowlers cannot defend it, small teams will keep on beating team India.
Now on to Pakistan, a team which has always been and perhaps always will be, the most unpredictable outfit in the sport.
And while they have failed to humble India in major tournaments such as the International Cricket Council (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625) World Cup, they still carry a superior bowling attack, one that can easily penetrate through the Indian defences once they get going.
Pakistan’s batting is the main problem for their supporters as even big names such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325 is in terrible form and has failed to contribute his share in the middle.
Flamboyant all-rounder, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 has also lost his impeccable form recently.
With the top batsmen not performing, Pakistan are in for a rough ride against India, because if the Men in Green bat first they would indeed have to post a staggering total on the board to at least let India lose a little sweat.
Any total posted by Pakistan would not be challenging enough for India because the Men in Blue certainly do not know when to give-up while playing against Pakistan.
Nonetheless, anything around 270 would be good enough for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Gul-c94604 who can rip apart the Indians. And then there is the spin from Mohammad Hafeez, who is lethal and can provide Pakistan important breakthroughs.
In the bowling department Pakistan have their bases covered, however, they need their batting to click today if they want go roaring into the final of the tournament.
India, on the other hand, have all the pressure of the world on their shoulders as this is a do-or-die situation for them, a defeat here would mean an exit from the tournament and since they are the defending champions this is the last thing they would want.
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