COLOMBO: Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said on Saturday his side will have an edge over India in their Asia Cup Super Four clash, with a bowling line-up ready to win matches and tournaments.

The arch-rivals meet again in Colombo on Sunday after their group match was abandoned due to rain, which has played havoc with the 50-over tournament that is a precursor to the ODI World Cup starting in India on Oct 5.

An India-Pakistan clash remains one of the most hotly-anticipated matches in world cricket because the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours only play each other in multi-nation tournaments due to political tensions.

Pakistan won their opening match of the Super Four stage and a second win will further enhance their chances of making the final scheduled for Sept 17 in Colombo.

But rain in the Sri Lankan capital is expected to play spoilsport again in the match, for which a reserve day has been kept aside.

“You can say we have the edge, as we have played back-to-back cricket here [in Sri Lanka] and in Pakistan,” Babar told reporters in Colombo.

“It has been two-and-a-half months in Sri Lanka including the Test series, Lanka Premier League, Afghanistan series and now the Asia Cup. So you can say it will be advantage [for us].”

Pakistan’s pace trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf have stood out, with 23 wickets between them so far.

Shaheen, a left-arm quick who leads the bowling, rattled India with his opening burst in the group match in Pallekele last week, taking the key wickets of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

Babar said the Pakistan team beli­eve their bowlers can win them titles.

“Proud to have the fast bowlers that we have. One of the best [in the world],” said the skipper.

“Fast bowlers win you tournaments and matches and I have total belief in them. The line-up that we have including Naseem and Faheem [Ashraf] is the best lot that we have.”

Pakistan announced their team for the big day-night match at the R. Premadasa Stadium, keeping an unchanged line-up from their seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the Super Four opener held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday.

‘VERY DIFFERENT’ FAST BOWLERS

Meanwhile, India opener Shubman Gill said not playing Pakistan regularly makes it tough to gauge the opposition.

“We all know that their [Paki­stan’s] bowling attack is quite good and when you don’t play against such attacks often it makes a bit of difference in main tournaments,” Gill told reporters.

The right-hander explained why the Pakistan fast bowlers are making such an impact.

“They are very different fast bowlers and they have their own specialities. Shaheen gets the ball to swing a lot. Naseem is all about pace and likes help from the wicket. They present different challenges in different conditions,” said the 24-year-old.

Gill, who was bowled by Haris for 10 in Pallekele, and other Indian batsmen have been facing a left-arm specialist throw-down specialist Nuwan Seneviratne in their training to counter Shaheen, and other Pakistan pacers.

“Definitely [training has helped]. He [Nuwan] has been travelling with us for the last 7-8 years. It is nice to have that variation.”

India managed to post 266 all out in Pellekele after they slipped to 66-4 against Pakistan last week, and Gill said the team have taken confidence from the fightback.

“Openers need to make a good start and need to dominate them from the beginning,” he said.

“In the league match, our top order did not click much, still we made a competitive total... so, it was a good sign.”

Describing Babar, who is the world’s top-ranked ODI batter currently, as a “world-class” batter, Gill said they follow his batting style and admire him.

“Yes, definitely we follow him [Babar]. When a player is doing well. Everyone watches him to find out why they are doing so good, what their speciality is. The same thing goes for Babar. He is a world-class player and we all do admire him,” Gill said.

Earlier, India’s team management sent batter Sanju Samson back home from Colombo as his services are no longer required in the Asia Cup.

The management took the decision after top-order KL Rahul joined the squad in Colombo ahead of the Super Four. Right-handed Samson was picked as Rahul’s backup as the latter was not available for the group-stage matches against Pakistan and Nepal due to a niggle.

Rahul, however, recovered from that and joined the Indian squad after getting a green signal from the National Academy Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Teams:

PAKISTAN: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Faheem Ashraf.

INDIA (from): Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2023