At Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur India won the toss and invite Pakistan to kick off the game. The expected playing eleven for India will be- Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(C), Hardik Pandya, R. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra. The Indian captain played with an injury in the last game, and it is unlikely he will be missing the marquee clash.
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Only two Pakistan batsmen could reach double digits in its lowest total against India.
Even a slight whisper of anything about India and Pakistan is enough to raise several ears in both the countries.
For Amir though, a good performance against India will probably help him gain some credibility not only in the dressing room but also among the common public in Pakistan.
Mohammad Amir, who looked in devastating form with the new ball and picked up all the three initial Indian wickets to fall early on, was the highest impact bowler of the match for his 3 for 18 in four overs.
India recovered from an early Mohammad Amir burst to consign Pakistan to a five-wicket Asia Cup defeat after bowling their fierce rivals out for only 83 in Mirpur on Saturday.
The Asia Cup, a biennial 12-day tournament, is being held in Twenty20 format for the first time in view of next month’s World Twenty20 in India. With skipper Dhoni firmly backing the veteran to come good, that is exactly the shot in the arm that the stylish left-hander would require before the big event. Collective effort from the bowlers was backed brilliantly by the fielders as it became a “no-contest” from the moment India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to field on a pacer- friendly wicket.
“There is a lot of hype, which is exciting for the people”, Virat Kohli said ahead of the match. Striker Shoaib Malik tapped one towards short cover and non-striker Manzoor immediately responded by taking a few strides.
“He is right when he says that T20 is also an extension of Test cricket and you need to respect the bowlers and conditions and play accordingly”, Misbah said.
UAE have lost their opening two games of the Asia Cup, going down to Sri Lanka by 14 runs and to Bangladesh by 51.
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Two runouts also hurt Pakistan, who were reduced to 45-6 before they made some resistance through wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed. Muhammad Hafeez and Sharjeel Khan took the strike, but it was not a good start.
