India vs Pakistan Live Score - Asia Cup 2010

The senior Indian players are back in the side, playing for the team after the one month long break from international cricket. The difference in their performance, apart from a rusty start, was there for all to see against Bangladesh. Pakistan (6/5 at Stan James to beat India) weren’t too off the mark with their bowling against Sri Lanka, but the batting continued to give them issues. India will be favourites (4/6 at Bet Fred), but only just so, given that a game between India and Pakistan is more about holding one’s nerves and mental toughness than about talent.

The Indian batsmen would have felt good about themselves given the way they batted under the difficult lights at Dambulla. Gautam Gambhir (7/2 at Bet Fred to be the best batsman) was at his steady best, and unlucky to miss out on a deserved century against Bangladesh. Virender Sehwag’s (3/1 at Bet Fred to top-score for India) lack of respect for Bangladesh ensured that he got only 11, but he will be the big fish as far as the Pakistanis are concerned. So will be the wicket of Suresh Raina (5/1 at Bet365 to be the best for India), who has exhibited enough consistency to warrant a captaincy role whenever the main skipper is out of the side.

How will the Indians bat under the Dambulla lights – if they bat second – against a bowling consisting of the rampaging Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, will probably decide which way the game goes. MS Dhoni’s (5/1 at William Hill, to top-score for India) middle-order batting could be the key here for the Indians.

The Pakistani side struggled to get a move on under the lights at Dambulla, and apart from Shahid Afridi (8/1 at Bet Fred to top-score for his side), the other batsmen seemed like novices. Two of them, Umar Amin (6/1 at Bet Fred) and Shahzaib Hasan (6/1 at Stan James, both to top-score for their side), were debutants, and so, could be pardoned for the kind of innings they played. But, a lot more was expected out of the likes of Umar Akmal (9/2 at Bet365) and Shoaib Malik (11/2 at William Hill) in the middle order.

Pakistan may need to ring in the changes, either in the playing eleven, or in the batting order, if they want to make a better match out of it.