Pakistan were humbled in their first Asia Cup T20 game by fierce rivals India. India won the toss and elected to field first which turn out to be a superb decision. Pakistan top order fell like flies and bundled out for just 83 runs in 17 overs. Muhammad Amir removed three Indian top order wickets but Kohli and Yuvraj steady the ship taking India to an impressive win.
Pakistan never looked in control of their batting and Indian seamers bowled beautifully with Nehra and Bumrah giving Pakistan top order all sorts of problems. Pakistan were 7 down with only 52 on the board and Hardik Pandya took three wickets for just 8 runs in superb spell
Chasing just 83, Indian innings started off to a bad start with Muhammad Amir producing one of the best fast bowling spells of recent years. He removed Sharma and Dhawan in his very first over. Raina fell shortly afterwards to make things interesting. But Kohli and Yuvraj saw off the spell and guided into to easy win in the end.
Virat Kohli finished as man of the match after his aboslutely wonderful 49 runs inning which guided india from 8/3 to pretty much finishing the game off.
India vs Pakistan – Asia Cup 2016
Date: Saturday 27th February 2016 – Time: 19:30 local / 13:30 uk
Channels: Star Sports (India), PTV Sports (Pakistan), YuppTV.com (official live streams for UK, USA, Canada, Australia and europe viewers)
India are coming into this game on the back of a impressive win over Bangladesh in the opening game when the coped well with losing early wickets but went on to make 166 runs with Rohit Sharma scoring a fast 83 of just 55 balls. The highlight of the game was Indian bowling attack which restricted Bangladesh from start to finish and never let them have any sort of momentum in the game.
Ashish Nehra has been in form of his life in last couple of months and his opening spell is the key for India who also have quality spinners to put the breaks on opposing team. Pakistan on the other hand usually a very formidable T20 side but in last one year they have struggled badly in the shorter format getting white-washed against England in UAE and a 2-1 defeat in the hands of New Zealand in 3 match t20 series.
Team News: India are likely to stick with the same lineup which played against Bangladesh. While it will be interesting what lineup Pakistan comes into the game. Pakistan has included several uncapped players in the squad and we can expect Khurram Manzoor and Sharjeel Khan to be included in the playing XI after their superb form in recently concluded Pakistan Premier League.
India Possible Playing XI: S.Dhawan, R.Sharma, V.Kohli, S.Raina, Y.Singh, R.Jadeja, M.Dhoni, H.Pandya, R.Aswin, J.Bumrah, A.Nehra
Pakistan Possible Playing XI: M.Hafeez, A.Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmad, Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Muhammad Amir, Muhammad Irfan,