India vs Pakistan: Slowness Of Premadasa track could have final say

THE TIMES OF INDIA IN COLOMBO: The toxic fumes of animosity still linger. For now, a temporary balm has been administered with the millions at stake. And on the face of it, things are working.It’s the Valentine’s Day weekend and if you are on that morning flight to Colombo from Chennai, you can’t miss the chatter around you.

The day of ‘love’ on Saturday can be followed up with a dash of ‘hate’ — if you want to call it that — on Sunday. Spectators are trooping in from different parts of the country to soak in the adrenaline rush that an India Pakistan clash has to offer.If you choose to eavesdrop on the conversations, the “ aaram sey jitenge (we will win easily)” narrative is unmissable.

It probably stems from the recent domination in T20 cricket over Pakistan and the margin of victory against Namibia in New Delhi.But is it that simple?Maybe not. The game is on the same Premadasa track where Zimbabwe humbled Australia with their slow bowlers on Friday a few hours before India landed in the Lankan capital. Slam-bang cricket, India’s go-to weapon in recent times, may not work as effectively as it has done in the smaller batting belters of India.

The pitch here gets slower and slower and the side-boundaries of Premadasa are bigger, so clearing the fence at ease is easier said than done.On Thursday at Delhi’s Kotla ground, little-known off-spinner Gerhard Erasmus bothered India with his round-arm off-spin, which is quite similar to Pakistan’s Usman Tariq’s.Tariq, a slinger, is more canny. He stops in his run-up and there is one delivery which turns quite a bit.

He is leading a four-man Pakistan spinattack that can be a serious cause of worry for the Indian middle-order.“At this level, we just watch a few videos and we have an idea of what kind of bowling is going to happen. Erasmus bowled well and there was a bit of learning for us,” Ishan Kishan, one of India’s bright spots with the bat on Thursday, said after the Namibia game.Will Abhishek be ready?While Ishan did look menacing during his 24-ball 61, the fitness of Abhishek Sharma remains a concern for India.

He is recovering from a stomach infection and has lost a significant amount of weight in the last few days. He missed the game on Thursday and everyone is waiting to see whether he will turn up for practice on Saturday in Colombo.Abhishek is one player who rarely misses practice sessions, even if those are optional. The southpaw hasn’t played any cricket in the last one week and if he has to be ready for Pakistan, he needs to have a feel of things in the middle.

But if India take the precautionary route and choose to rest Abhishek, it’s advantage Pakistan right at the top. Pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has been woefully out of form, can go into the game with a little more confidence.

The fact that Sanju Samson isn’t at his best will increase the pressure on the likes of Kishan and captain Suryakumar Yadav to put up that 180 total, which is par at the Premadasa track.Washy a tempting optionIt’s the bowlers who have done the job for India in the first two matches.

But at Premadasa, India may just be tempted to play off-spinning allrounder Washington Sundar ahead of Rinku Singh, who failed in the first two matches. Spinners are going to play a massive role here and Washy’s intelligence could just add a little more variety to the spin attack, which looks slightly Varuncentric at the moment.Clouds looming in the horizonThe met department has issued a warning for Saturday. A low-pressure is likely to develop over southeastern Bay of Bengal, causing significant amounts of rainfall in Colombo.

A washout on Sunday, the day of the game, will be a dampener. India’s middle-order hitters. Tariq got hit a few times but there were occasions when he got the better of Pakistan’s top batters.As Tariq kept on bowling, the intense debate around his action swirled on the sidelines. It became a bit of India vs Pakistan beyond the boundary as a section of the Indian media insisted that his pause in action and bend in arm are illegal.For the Pakistan media, the defence was simple“Even your greatest offie R Ashwin has said Tariq’s action is fine. Why are you even debating it,” someone said.Ashwin, though, in his latest Youtube show, has suggested a plan to deal with Tariq. “There is one thing I want to see. Who dares to do that? If Tariq pauses before delivery, the batter has the right to move away. The batter can say, ‘I don’t know when the ball is coming, so I moved away,” Ashwin said.While Tariq, with an economy rate of 5.93 in T20Is, will be Pakistan’s trump card, the team management is keeping an eye on the weather. If it rains and the game gets curtailed, it is likely that Pakistan will drop two of their four spinners and play both paceman Naseem Shah and Salman Mirza, along with Shaheen Afridi.All three bowled long spells in practice and one could figure that the team management is keeping all options open.

There’s another player that Pakistan are keeping ready. The left-hander Fakhar Zaman has not been in the best of form but coach Mike Hesson spent a lot of time with him on Friday.Former Pakistan batter Ahmed Shahzad said on a show, “The team needs one more proper batter and they have to find a way to do it.”If Fakhar has to play, Sahibzada Farhan has to keep wickets, with regular ’keeper Usman Khan sitting out. It remains to be seen if Pakistan will take that extreme step to make this big match feel like a rivalry again.