KOLKATA: For the second straight time in a multi-team cricket tournament, Pakistan clash with India to kick-start their campaign. This time, it will be in a bid to be crowned Asia’s best in Dhaka.

Asia Cup 2016 begins on Wednesday with hosts Bangladesh taking on a resurgent India, fresh from whitewashing Australia 3-0 in their own backyard and then beating Sri Lanka 2-1 at home.

The last time the men in the green shirts took on those in blue, it was to flag off their ODI World Cup crusade in Adelaide on February 15, 2015.

And although that too was India’s first game, they had by then spent over three months in Australia, playing two tour matches, four Tests and a triangular series involving England as the third team.

Almost a year later on February 27, the old rivals meet again in what will be Pakistan’s first game in the Asia Cup – to be played in the T20 format for the first time, where India boast of a better record.

With all fixtures planned to be held at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium at Mirpur, Dhaka, the face-off with Pakistan will be India’s second game in the tournament – at the same venue.

Thus, once again, MS Dhoni’s men would have had time to get acclimatised, having spent five days in Dhaka and got a measure of the playing conditions from the opening game against the hosts.

But then, many of the Pakistanis – including Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Sami – had turned out recently for the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), and are also familiar with the pitches.

Pakistani greats back India

According to Dhaka daily Prothom Alo, two of Pakistan’s former players – Afghanistan coach Inzamam-ul-Haq and UAE coach Aaqib Javed – back India to lift the Cup.

Another former great, Wasim Akram, places his wager on India to emerge victors in Saturday’s match; he based his prediction on their current form.

“Yes, that’ll be a good game to look forward to and given the way India are playing right now, they’re clear favourites,” Akram was quoted by The Times of India as saying.

Somewhat tellingly, perhaps, are the outcomes of the last five completed T20 matches of India and Pakistan; the difference is uncanny in its sequence.

For India, the results read – Win, Win, Loss, Win, Win (the latest match first, and the lone defeat coming in the tour opener against Sri Lanka in Pune).

The last two wins were against Australia.

For Pakistan, the reading is diametrically opposite – Loss, Loss, Win, Loss, Loss (the latest result first, and the lone victory coming against New Zealand in the tour opener in Auckland).

The first two losses were against England.

It is as if the two teams had decided to take a break from the monotony of their performances at the exact same time.

Records favour India

In head-to-head confrontations in T20 since the inaugural World T20 in 2007, Pakistan enjoy a win record of only 20 per cent; they won one against India, lost four, while one was a tie.

Overall, since February 2015, Pakistan have played 13 T20s. Of these, they won seven, lost five and tied one (against England, which they went on to lose in the super over) – a win-loss ratio of 58:42.

India can boast of only slightly better figures than Pakistan; of the 10 games they played since February 2015, Dhoni’s men won six and lost four, registering a winning percentage of 60.

But this has been enough to give them the top ranking in T20; plus, reflecting their batting prowess is a highest score of 200 and an aggregate run rate of over 8.

India’s two back-to-back series wins against Australia and Sri Lankan were redemption of sorts after going down 0-2 to South Africa at home in T20 last October, and then 2-3 in the ODIs.

But it was actually the seesawing ODI series against the Proteas that saw the Indians finding their groove; save for the decider, the other two defeats could well have gone their way.

India’s edge in stability

India’s batting line-up – the bulwark against Pakistan’s famed bowling attack – has remained unchanged since they last met in Dhaka on March 21 during 2014 World T20.

Spots one to seven – Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja – have stayed mostly stable for two years; only Yuvraj’s spot has seen a few experiments.

The only problem they have in batting is a sweet one: Sharma, Dhawan and Kohli have been in such devastating form since the Australia series that Yuvraj, Dhoni and Jadeja have hardly batted.

For instance, over the past six T20 matches, Yuvraj has had to face only 26 balls – an average of less than five deliveries a game; newcomer Hardik Pandya has had 18.

The middle-order has remained largely untested.

On the other hand, Pakistan have seen several changes both in batting and bowling, and are still looking for the right mix, calling up Mohammed Sami and Sharjeel Khan at the last minute.

Missing from the 2014 squad, which lost to India after posting 130, are Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood, Bilawal Bhatti, Junaid Khan and Saeed Ajmal.

‘Don’t write-off Pakistan’

Reflecting the state of flux that the team finds itself in, Pakistan have had five T20 captains since 2007; Mohammad Hafeez led Pakistan in 2014, now it is Shahid Afridi.

By contrast, in MS Dhoni, India had only one skipper – who also gave them the Word T20 title.

There has been nothing to show that Pakistan are finding their groove in T20, save for scattered shows of brilliance in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

They were swept aside by England 0-3 in the UAE in October-November 2015, before going down 1-2 to the Kiwis in New Zealand this January.

At 1-2, the final scoreline reads slightly better against the Black Caps, but the way Afridi’s men were annihilated in the latter part of the T20 series should worry the skipper.

After winning the first T20, Pakistan were comprehensively beaten by 10 wickets in the second game and 95 runs in the decider.

But unlike the past Pakistani greats, former India player Akash Chopra refused to read too much into the records.

“It is what happens on the given day that is important,” Chopra said at a panel discussion on Star Sports channel recently.

“One just cannot write-off Pakistan.”