Team India are breaming with confidence as they stormed into Asia Cup 2022's Super Fours riding on back to back victories over Pakistan and Hong Kong respectively. But India's bowling attack hasn't performed up to the mark in the absence of their prime pacer Jasprit Bumrah who was ruled out of the Asia Cup owing to injury concerns. However, Hardik Pandya has so far compensated the absence of Bumrah.
Meanwhile, Avesh Khan secured a place in India's playing XI in both the match but has turned out to be the weak link among the rest of the pacers in particular. Avesh conceded 19 runs in the two overs and managed to take just one wicket against Pakistan while against Hong Kong he gave away 53 runs in four overs and snared mere one wicket.
Among spinners Yuzvendra Chahal hasn't really fired so far as the ace spinner is yet to take a wicket in the tournament and had leaked 32 runs against Pakistan. India captain Rohit Sharma had said after their match against Hong Kong that he was disappointed with how the team bowled in the second half of the opposition's innings.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan ace spinner Danish Kaneria believes that India's bowling departments will need some changes moving forward in the tournament.
"India's bowling is getting real concerning. Avesh Khan is going for plenty and if Arshdeep also goes for runs then the entire load comes onto Bhuvneshwar. Chahal also hasn't been able to execute his skills. If he can't bowl enough leg-spin, replace him with Bishnoi. He is quick in the air and on such tracks, he will be useful," said Kaneria on his Youtube channel.
India and Pakistan will be up against each other on Sunday (September 4) if Babar Azam-led side manages to beat Hong Kong on Friday (September 2). That would make it another high intensity match in this tournament and Kaneria said that India will also have to be careful about managing Pandya's workload. The all-rounder was rested for their last match against Hong Kong.
"You also need to manage Hardik's workload ahead of the T20 World Cup. Back whoever you want among Pant and Dinesh Karthik, but then stick to it. If I were to rest Hardik, then I would definitely play Hooda to get that variation in bowling," he further said.
India's squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Pakistan's squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammed Hasnain, Hasan Ali.
