Asia Cup 2018: 3 reasons why Pakistan will defeat India

The Asia Cup commenced yesterday (15th September) with Bangladesh's victory over Sri Lanka and will now see one of the hot favourites, Pakistan lock horns with Hong Kong. Though there are other fixtures like Afghanistan vs Bangladesh and Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan to look forward to, no match would garner as much interest as the India vs Pakistan one.

The last time these two teams met was in the final of Champions Trophy last year in England. Then, Pakistan had defeated India by a huge margin of 180 runs and would be full of confidence when they meet their arch-rivals on 19th September.

While India just recently suffered a drubbing at the hands of England in both the ODI and Test series, Pakistan won a tri-nation T20 series which had Australia and Zimbabwe as the other two teams and a 5-0 win in an ODI series against the latter.

On that note, let's take a look at the possible reasons why Pakistan will go in as favourites against India.

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#1 Pakistan bowling vs Indian batting

Pakistan have come into the tournament with as many as six fast bowlers - Faheem Ashraf (ODI bowling avg: 20.31), Hasan Ali (ODI bowling avg: 20.88), Junaid Khan (ODI bowling avg: 28.21), Mohammad Amir (ODI bowling avg: 29.75), Shaheen Afridi (yet to play an ODI) and Usman Khan (ODI bowling avg: 11.4). Though there's a certain lack of experience in this list, many believe this to be one of the best pace attacks in the world.

India's captain, Rohit Sharma's record against Pakistan's premier fast bowler doesn't make for a good reading as well. Amir boasts of an astonishing average of 6.33 against Rohit - the opener has been dismissed thrice by Amir, once in ODIs and twice in T20s, and has scored only 19 runs in 49 balls against the pacer.

With India's longstanding issues against left-arm pacers, if Amir and Usman Khan manage to get through the Indian top-order, the MS Dhoni-led middle order could find it hard to get the innings back on track against the likes of Shadab Khan in spinning conditions.

#2 Home conditions for Pakistan

Pakistan v Australia - ODI International

Pakistan have been playing all of their international matches for the past nine years (since 2009) in the United Arab Emirates. They are well-versed with the conditions and are a team brimming with confidence.

It is thus natural to expect the Sarfraz Khan-led side to have an upper hand when they line up against India in the group stage encounter on Wednesday.

#3 Absence of Virat Kohli

India v Pakistan - ICC Champions Trophy Final

India's full-time captain Virat Kohli was handed a much-deserved rest after a gruelling England tour where he led the team from the front. In his absence, India's limited-overs specialist Rohit Sharma was named the captain.

Kohli has a healthy record against Pakistan in ODIs - 459 runs in 12 matches with two centuries. As was exhibited by him in the last India-Pakistan Asia Cup encounter, the right-hander has the capability to withstand the pressure if his openers fail to keep Pakistan pacers at bay.

Moreover, he is by far the best ODI batsman in the sport and any team would get weakened by his absence.