Asia Cup 2018, India vs Pakistan: 3 talking points from the match

India walloped Pakistan by eight wickets in an extremely one-sided match of Asia Cup 2018 on 19th September. Pakistan was bowled out for 162 and India cruised home with 8 wickets and more than 20 overs to spare.

Pakistan has had a woeful record against India in the last five years or so and yesterday’s game was yet another proof of India’s recent dominance over their neighbors.

UAE has been home to many legendary India-Pakistan matches in the 1980s and 1990s but yesterday’s match went nowhere near the lofty standard set by those. Such lop-sided games are very disappointing for the spectators, as well as every genuine sports-lover, wants to watch matches full of contest.

For Pakistan, Babar Azam top-scored with 47 and Shoaib Malik contributed 43. Bhubaneshwar Kumar and Kedar Jadhav took 3 wickets apiece for India. However, none of the other Pakistani batsmen could make any significant contribution as they finished with a meager total.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma made a brilliant half-century while fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan chipped in with 46. The Pakistani pacers Mohammed Amir, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan and Faheem Ashraf could not pose any trouble to the Indian batsmen. We would now look at the 3 talking points of the match:

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#1 Pakistani batting lacked solidity again

Three of the Pakistani batsmen succumbed to the innocuous spin-bowling of Kedar Jadhav and it is not acceptable by any means

Pakistan has not had a genuine world-class batsman since the retirement of the likes of Inzamam-Ul-Haq and Younis Khan and their batting frailties were exposed yet again yesterday.

Azam and Malik added 82 runs for the third wicket after the openers were dismissed cheaply but the Pakistani middle-order collapsed after that partnership was broken. Pakistan lost the rest of their four wickets for 25 runs and faded away from the match.

They were done in by some disciplined Indian bowling. A number of Pakistani batsmen were caught behind the wicket which underlines their lack of footwork and technique.

They also did not use soft hands to take singles more frequently. Rotating strike keeps the scoreboard moving and takes the pressure off the batsmen. There were too many dot ball and soft dismissals in the Pakistani innings.

Their batting was not quite up to the standards of international cricket and resembled that of a club side at times. Three of the Pakistani batsmen succumbed to the innocuous spin-bowling of Kedar Jadhav and it is not acceptable by any means.

#2 Indian batsmen were very strong off their back-foot

The Indian batsmen looked to be in ominous form and proved to be too strong for the lackadaisical Pakistani bowling

Indian batsmen demonstrated exceptional abilities off their back-foot and played some outrageous shots throughout their innings.

Rohit Sharma hit three sixes in his innings and all of those were hit off his back-foot. Shikhar Dhawan also played some good square cuts and drives and Dinesh Karthik continued the good work with some solid pull-shots. Indian batsmen scored briskly and never looked to be in any kind of serious trouble.

The pitch was also playing true and it helped the cause of the Indian batsmen. Sharma timed the ball extremely well and some of his pulls and hooks were breathtakingly good.

Dhawan provided him with good support and the opening pair took the game away from Pakistan in the first 10 overs or so.

The Indian batsmen looked to be in ominous form and proved to be too strong for the lackadaisical Pakistani bowling.

#3 Pakistani fast bowlers lacked planning

Amir, Usman and Hasan Ali could hardly generate any swing with the new ball and tried in vain to out-bounce the Indian batsmen on a placid pitch

Pakistani fast bowlers did not have an intelligent approach while defending a paltry total. They bowled too short and tried to bowl too fast at times on a pitch that played true. As a result, the Indian batsmen hammered them with strokes all over the ground.

Amir, Usman and Hasan Ali could hardly generate any swing with the new ball and tried in vain to out-bounce the Indian batsmen on a placid pitch.

The four Pakistani pacers bowled a total of 19 overs, went for 114 runs and picked up a solitary wicket.

They should have bowled more cutters and altered the pace to make it more difficult for the Indian batsmen.

They should have also bowled fuller to have any chance of making an early breakthrough. Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistani captain, should have introduced leggie Shadab Khan earlier and tried to test the Indian batsmen with the pace-spin combination.

Khan took the wicket of Rohit Sharma almost as soon as he was introduced into the attack and looked like the only bowler capable of troubling the Indian batsmen. However, he could bowl only 1.3 overs and suffered an injury after that.

Pakistan probably should have dropped one of the pacers to accommodate another specialist spinner in their playing eleven.