Bhubaneswar: This weekend cricket extravaganza rolled on the pitch Saturday. Sunday will be the seventh Champions Trophy’s blockbuster day.
Archrivals in the South Asia – India and Pakistan will be locking horns at Dubai. The clash between the two formidable rivals is not just limited to sports; passion, patriotism and pitched battle to dominate the psychology et all brew up together to make it a battle of titans for supremacy.
The India – Pakistan cricket showdowns are not played with the zeal of sportsmanship but down there from the ground to towns in both countries, it is played and watched with the zeal of winning the WAR.
In the daggers drawn out battle Sunday, who will win the WAR?
DUBAI FAVOURS WHOM?
This venue was made battle ready for games in year 2009. A total of 154 cricket battles were fought on the pitch, which is brownish tinged with rough and cracks at places, and also having small grassy patches.
Due to its bare surface, the Dubai battle ground is often known for favouring the willow wizards (batsman).
The experience of over 15 years show that pacers shine with new ball. If batsman survives the spell well, then a team can go on to score big totals – as this is a batsman friendly pitch.
This doesn’t mean that bowlers can’t do much. In the later overs, the bare-cracked surface offers good support to spinners.
HOW MANY RUNS WILL MAKE A SUMMIT UNSURMOUNTABLE?
As this has been a 50-overs match, the stadium has till date hosted 59 such one-day internationals. The following trends drop enough clues.
- Team batting first won the match – 22
- Team won bowling first – 35
- Highest total scored on this pitch – 355
- Highest score chased on this pitch – 287
The STATS show bowlers dominate in the first session, which seems in sync with the pitch conditions.
As the one-dayers here are Day and Night ones, the team bowling second will neither get the wind support nor the cracked-bare surface offer any support to spinners. As the pitch is a batsman friendly pitch, the team batting second can chase a bigger target.
PAKISTAN, INDIA HIGHEST SCORE HERE BELOW 300
India and Pakistan have been face to face on this pitch for as many as 7 times. And the men in blue won in six of their outings.
Moreover, India have remained unbeaten against Pakistan in their last six ODI matches since 2018.
In 2018, India defeated archrivals Pakistan comprehensively. Pak won the toss and elected to bat first. Exploiting the conditions, India restricted Pak to a total of measly 162, and batting second romped home easily.
Similarly, in Asia Cup match played in 2018. India downed Pakistan here. Pak batted first and posted a total of 237 runs. Batting second, India chased the total in just under 40 overs.
Both teams have not come face to face at the desert since then.
Another important fact to fore here is in the last two outings between Indian and Pak, Pakistan Captain has won the toss twice. Both times they opted for batting and it bombed them on both occasions.
It needs mentioning here that Pakistan team has never score 300 runs on this pitch. Their highest total is 287 against Sri Lanka.
Similarly, India too has scored its highest total of 285 on this ground.
INDIA – PAKISTAN ODI RECORD
As per the Cricket stats, India and Pakistan have played each other on 135 occasions in the ODI format. The Indian side has registered 57 victories while Pakistan have 73 wins. Five matches have ended with no results.
The above Stats make Pakistan a favourite in this format of game.
However, the current state of fact is India have remained unbeaten against Pakistan in their last six ODI matches since 2018.
WHO WILL STAR THE BLOCKBUSTER?
The above analysis shows toss plays a crucial role in this game. Since for the last two times, Pak captain has been winning the toss, this time in Dubai, Rohit Sharma may bag the limelight at toss ceremony.
If India will be put into batting first by the Pakistan team, then Men in Blue have to post a summit total of 300, as Pakistan highest score over the years has been 287.
With certain dewy conditions, India can restrict the Pakis if they bat second on the batsman friendly pitch.
If Indian Captain wins toss and opt to bat second, then Indian bowlers should have to restrict Pakistan below 230. And the target chasing will not be hard for Team India, provided they make no blunders.
PLAYERS TO WATCH FROM INDIA
Last years data show Captain Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja had a successful show here. Rohit Sharma has scored 317 runs on this grounds; whereas Ravindra Jadeja has the best bowling figures here. Arshdeep Singh is the highest wicket taker for India on this pitch.
So, all eyes are on Captain Rohit Sharma’s show. If he clicks, India will have its day Sunday.
