Pakistan vs India, and a middle-overs war

 

Pakistan vs India, and a  middle-overs war

Suddenly, everyone's attention at the Platinum Oval in Alur was focused on one thing. Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma, who had entered the facility's shaded area following his batting assignment, had both returned and were now positioned behind the sweeper-cover fielder. Heading into the crucial Asia Cup-World Cup swing, India's week-long ODI'skills camp' began on Day 1. KL Rahul, who had spent the better part of the previous two weeks bouncing between recuperation and setbacks, walked out to bat under stern criticism.

In his first official practice with the Indian team in over four months, he landed softly. Reserve bowler Akash Deep, who is already well into an extended tenure, didn't present much of a challenge. That quickly changed when Rahul Dravid gave the signal to begin middle-overs simulation and switch the bowling group. Axar Patel and Mayank Markande, a leg and left arm spinner respectively, entered the game. Perhaps the strongest demonstration of his newly developed quad strength, Rahul forcefully swiped Axar Patel's opening ball. After two balls, he reverse-sweeped past short third man and to the boundary, not far from where Agarkar and Rohit were observing.

India's development was visible in both of their two innings against Pakistan during the recent Asia Cup. India continued to attack even after falling behind to 66/4 in the ultimately abandoned group stage match, with Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya concentrating on a particular weakness in the Pakistani attack: spin. In the other game, which was Rahul's first match back from injury, it was evident that an injured Pakistani attack would need overs from part-time off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed. However, India's No. 4 hit the accelerator and hit the spinners to parts of the ground that Babar Azam, in spite of his best efforts, was unable to defend.

The data tells the rest of the story regarding this transformation guided by Rohit. In terms of middle-order scoring rates and boundary percentages in the cycle leading up to the 2023 World Cup, India is just behind England, with South Africa in third place. Because of their better scoring rate, India's numbers four and five have an aggregate strike-rate of 97.15, which is a full 12 points more than Pakistan's 88.04.

However, they do have a special ball-related advantage over Pakistan—namely, they defend this exact phase. The left-arm legspinner Kuldeep Yadav has taken 54 wickets through the middle overs, which is double the total of the next-best spinner in these two sides. Even though Mohammad Rizwan has performed admirably in the subtle No. 4 post for Pakistan, they are still among the lower-tier bowling teams through overs 11–40, with their totals surpassing only those of the Netherlands in this final cycle.

Considering the match between India and Pakistan, its past, and the players involved, it may be easy to concentrate on the standard storyline of Pakistan's fast bowlers versus India's top order. However, if you've been following the current ODI scene well enough, you'll also know where to look for the most likely point of difference.