India aim for another dominant show against Pak

Dubai: Skipper Suryakumar Yadav will depend heavily on his spin troika as India gear up for yet another demolition act of Pakistan in what promises to be an intense and tense Super 4 face-off of the Asia Cup here on Sunday.

There have been numerous tense build-ups to Indo-Pak men’s cricket matches in the past but ‘surface tension’ wasn’t as visible as it has been in this case after last Sunday when Suryakumar and his team’s decision to not shake hands with the rivals triggered a storm.

It is understood that the Indian team is likely to maintain the policy against the neighbours this Sunday too and handshakes might not be the order of the day even as Pakistani players and their supporters look at the game as a “Grudge Match”. Sundays are not always the most relaxed days and skipper Suryakumar, who anchored India’s chase in their seven-wicket win on the previous one, would vouch for it. In this tournament, Suryakumar is expected to be the best batter, a tactical genius and also an ambassador for his country -- all rolled into one.

Squads:

India: Suyakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana.

Pakistan:Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufyan Moqim.