 India
and Pakistan will face-off in what should be one of the most interesting games
of the Champions Trophy on Saturday at the Centurion. It will be a day-night
match and will be played on a pitch which looks a little slow and sluggish, much
more than what one would expect in South Africa. And much much more than what
one saw at Johannesburg when Pakistan beat the West Indies!
India will be playing their first game, whereas it will be Pakistan's second
match. Pakistan had won their first game against the second string West Indian
side.
Click for Live Score Card of India vs Pakistan
Things will not be looking too good for the Indian side. For starters, they
are without Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, both of whom can proudly
lay claim to the best batsman and bowler title from the Indian side in the last
12 months or so. And as if that wasn't enough, Yuvraj Singh has been
ruled out of the tournament with a fractured finger and will miss cricket for
six weeks. This means that the Indians have some hard planning to be done with
respect to their middle order, which is lacking in firepower and intensity.
Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir should open the innings for the
Indians, and Rahul Dravid should come in at the number three slot, but after
that it gets tougher for the Indians. M.S.Dhoni , Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina will all be fitted in that middle order, but it will be the choice
of the seventh batsman that should be interesting. India will have the option
between Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar and the replacement for Yuvraj - Virat Kohli, and my sense is that the time has come for Nayar to bat and bowl
in his first game!
From the Pakistani perspective, the batting struggled in the previous game
on the green wicket, but the one player to watch out for is Umar Akmal.
He has already had a good series against Sri Lanka, and as youngsters go, there
haven't been too many who have looked so matured in their approach against the
opposition so early.
The bowling will rest in the hands of the three quick bowlers, Mohammad Aamer,
Umar Gul and Naved-ul-Hasan, though the Pakistanis will look to include Mohammad
Asif as well. With Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal taking control of the
spinning duties, it will require a strong performance from the India
to even get close to a win. The match, is a day-night encounter.
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