Big Image: Pakistan’s struggle for survival
If Pakistan ever needed a miracle, it’s now. Not for the sake of cricket, they find themselves isolated in international cricket to the extent that this is the first ICC event they host for 29 years. And barely three days into Champions Trophy, after beating against New Zealand, they stare at the exit sign of a party they waited three decades to host.
To stay alive in the tournament, Pakistan has to beat their erkivals on a slow, tired track where India has already played and won a match and has five spinners to choose from. For no guilt in India’s cricketers, Pakistan has to leave their own party and travel to Dubai because India refused to travel to Pakistan for reasons, neither their board nor their government will specify. Would you blame Pakistan for feeling under siege when they have to fight to even reintroduce their country’s name in the official TV branding? At such times, the reasons behind any such failure may seem creepy, although they may not be.
It creates a strange dynamic between the two sets of cricketers. Despite all the machines, cricketers respect each other and are civilians to each other to the extent that it annoys those who want their own hatred to reflect on the field. The edge is also perhaps because of the gap between the two sides.
As is likely to happen to a team that is isolated, Pakistan is once at the forefront of innovation in Asia, unfortunately behind the times, especially in limited cricket. India, once accumulators, but not always winners, now strives continuously to push into the future. In an era in which ICC engineers their tournament plans to secure at least a large India-Pakistan match, it says very much that Pakistan has only won in 2017 and 2021 since 2011.
More than the four -year pattern of winnings, Pakistan will look at the conditions with some hope. The slow seats in Dubai, recently used for oxygen20, require an old -fashioned game that could neutralize to an extent India’s great hit advantage in the middle of the overs. Without tablecloth – 13:00 starts anyway, let some room for dew to play a role – thrown in these seats is a great advantage. Under similar conditions last year, Sri Lanka got better by India in a bilateral series at home with a base spin attack. They won the throws, fought first and got the mid -200s in each game. Pakistan hopes for a repetition, but India will also lean on the lessons they have learned.
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In the limelight: Virat Kohli and Salman Agha
Virat Kohli has been out for leg spin in each of the last five matches he has faced such bowling. There are five layoffs in 21 races in the last 46 balls with leg spin he has faced in ODDs. Now Pakistan doesn’t have a classic leg spinner in their ranks, but Abrar Ahmed turns the ball both ways like a leg spinner. Most fighters these days can hit big on flat tracks, but this is where you need the ability to choose singles without taking risks. It’s not hard to imagine that India needs just that in one of these games. Will kohli from the old one appear?
Salman Agha has been silver -lined for Pakistan in the recent ODD crick. Since 2024 he has scored the second most middle runs for Pakistan: 325, an average of 65.00 and a strike speed of 88.07. Pakistan needs all his diligence in the middle overs when India tries to strangle them with their slower bowlers.
Team news: Imam or Usman instead of Fakhar?
Imam-Ul-Haq has entered the troop as replacement for one dynamic opener Pakistan had, Fakhar Zaman. Usman Khan is their second reserve dough, but if he debuts in ODI, he will have to do so in an unknown role: He flows on No. 4 on the list a cricket.
Pakistan (Possible): 1 Imam-Ul-Haq, 2 Babar Azam, 3 Saud Shakeel, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (Capt, WK), 5 Salman Agha, 6 Tayyab Tahir, 7 Khushdil Shah, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed
There is no need for India to make changes to their combination or staff.
India (Possible): 1 Rohit Sharma (Capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Kl Rahul (WK), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 KoldeP Yadav
India wanted to field first in their opening match against Bangladesh, but given the way the course slowed down and how there was no tablecloth, do not expect to make that mistake in Dubai again. Expect teams to get the most out of powerplay before the middle of Overs ties them up. It’s hard to see the trend change in seats recently used for a whole T20 tournament.
Statistics and Trivia: India dominates Pakistan
