India face Pakistan in Asia Cup final league game with eyes on knockout momentum

Dubai: Having already made the semifinals, a far superior India will be expected to step up the intensity against traditional foes Pakistan in their final league game of the Women's Asia Cup here on Saturday.

Men or women, routinely scheduled Indo-Pak fixtures in multi-team events have not lived up to the off-field hype for a while now.

Nothing different is expected when the two teams meet at the Dubai International Stadium with overwhelming title favourites India expected to steamroll Pakistan.


That is not to say that India don't have work to do in the shortest format, having made premature exits in the past two World Cups.

They need to develop a pool of power-hitters and fast bowlers to challenge the hegemony of Australia.

However, at the Asia level, no side comes close to India's level. The Indians had somehow finished runners-up to Sri Lanka in the previous edition. Pakistan, on the other hand, have won their opening game against Thailand and remain in contention for the last-four stage.

Ahead of the game, both India openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma looked at the top of their game. Mandhana broke a battery of records against Hong Kong en route a memorable hundred to fire out a warning for the other teams in the competition.

The pitches here have not been the easiest to bat on.

The batters usually take about 10 balls or so to assess the pace of the surface and accordingly plan their innings. This is exactly what both Mandhana and Shafali did on Thursday night.

The likes of Pratika Rawal, Richa Ghosh and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will look to spend more time in the middle, having not been able to convert starts.

Pressure is mounting on new number three Rawal, who has not been able to meet the demands of the T20 game, having found plenty of success in the ODI format.

The addition of Nandani Sharma in the pace attack is a step in the right direction as she is delivering on her promise while opening the bowling alongside spearhead Kranti Gaud.

Pakistan, on the other hand, need drastic improvement in their batting to competing with India. The shortcomings in the batting department have let the team down for a number of years.

Even in their last game against Thailand, Pakistan found themselves under pressure in the powerplay with the loss of three wickets. However, they managed to defend a lowly 119 against a less-established side.

The team over-relies on opener Muneeba Ali and bowling all-rounder Fatima Sana who is also the captain of the side. That will need to change if Pakistan are to challenge their mighty rivals.

Squads:

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Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), G Kamalini (wk), Arundhati Reddy, Prema Rawat, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Nandni Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Pratika Rawal.

Fatima Sana (captain), Ayesha Zafar, Eman Naseer, Eyman Fatima, Gull Feroza, Momina Riasat, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui (wk), Sadaf Shamas, Nashra Sundhu, Sadia Iqbal, Saira Jabeen, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Tuba Hassan, Umm-e-Hani, Waheeda Akhtar.

Match starts 8pm IST.