As unconvincing as India were in their Asia Cup opener against Hong Kong on Tuesday, the were just as impressive less than 24 hours later following an eight-wicket win over Pakistan in Dubai.
India had a few questions to answer after their worrying effort against Associate side Hong Kong as they struggled to a 26-run win on Tuesday.
Their new-ball bowlers and middle order stuck out like a sore thumb. But against Pakistan, India ticked almost all the boxes. Seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-15) and part-time off-spinner Kedar Jadhav (3-23) knocked the wind out of their rivals’ batting to dismiss them for 162.
The target was never going to trouble India as captain Rohit Sharma smashed 52 from 39 balls with India chasing down the target on 29 overs.
Here, we take a look at the things we learned from India’s win.
BHUVI BACK TO HIS BEST
India’s pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been up and down all year, especially after his lower back injury in the IPL. He has looked down on pace on occasions and generally off the boil. Even in England in the third ODI, he was given a chance to prove his fitness but failed miserably and ended up missing the critical Test matches.
In the first match of the Asia Cup, Bhuvi was handled easily by Hong Kong openers Anshuman Rath and Nizakat Khan. There were concerns that the back injury had done him for good.
But against Pakistan, Bhuvneshwar used all his experience to settle the match in the first half hour. Bowling short of length, Bhuvi forced openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman back and got both batsmen out with short or shortish balls. The returning Jasprit Bumrah was spot on with 2-23.
FIELDING STILL POOR
Catching is not a strength of this Indian outfit, be it Tests or ODIs. Their butter fingers were on display in Dubai on Wednesday with three chances going down.
First, wicketkeeper MS Dhoni failed to hold on to a one-handed chance from Shoaib Malik off the bowling of Hardik Pandya.
Then, Bhuvneshwar misjudged a catch in the deep, again from Malik, to deny Kuldeep Yadav a deserved wicket. And then Yuzvendra Chahal dropped a straightforward return chance off Faheem Ashraf.
Three dropped catches in one match show India still have not rectified the fundamental problem plaguing their fielding.
JADHAV SURPRISES PAKISTAN
Part-time off spinner Jadhav’s job is to contain the runs with his outlandish bowling action which sends the ball at an odd angle and slow pace to batsmen.
Not only was Jadhav on the money again, as he was against Hong Kong, he picked up three wickets for in the process for 23 runs from nine overs. On the slow pitches of UAE, Jadhav’s dibbly dobblies are like gold dust.
PAKISTAN GIFTED WICKETS
As well as India bowled, the fact is Pakistan batsmen played a major role in getting out. Imam charged down the wicket to somehow nick behind, captain Sarfraz Ahmed charged down the wicket to Jadhav to get caught at long on in the 25th over and change the course of the match. Then there was Malik’s run out after he was dropped twice.
Shot selection is a tricky issue in white ball cricket as batsmen have to push hard at the ball. However, Pakistan will realise India didn’t have to earn the majority of their wickets.
PAKISTAN CAN TAKE IT EASY
While India-Pakistan matches are always crucial, it was just the first of what could be three ODI matches in the UAE between the two sides this month.
The two teams clash once again in the Super Four stage and then possibly in the final. All those matches will be in Dubai and the experience gained in the first game should help the men in green rectify their mistakes.
They only need to look at their 2017 Champions Trophy campaign when they lost their opening match against India by 124 runs before crushing the Indians in the final.
