Haroon siddiqui : If captain Misbah-ul-Haq could steer Pakistan to victory against the arch-rivals India, it could well mean that India will be out of the Asia Cup tournament. Pakistan has already secured a berth in the final with victories over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and will be under less pressure unlike the Indians.
Pakistani players need to avoid confrontations on the field when they take on India and the crowd can take any gesture or display of emotion negatively, so the players must be very careful about their conduct on the field. Whenever Pakistan and India play against each other there is a lot of tension and the atmosphere is electrifying and this naturally affects the people on both sides of the border.
Obviously it is going to be a tough encounter and both teams will want to win as they are playing for the first time since the 2011 World Cup semi-final. People in both countries watch such matches with a lot of interest. I have seen when such high-tension matches are played even the people who normally don't follow cricket are glued to the happenings.
The Indians have no option but to put it across their traditional rivals to stay alive in the tournament as the shocking defeat at the hands of Bangladesh has thrown their campaign into jeopardy. The stunning defeat would have certainly hurt the Indians, especially Tendulkar whose phenomenal feat of scoring the 100th international ton went in vain. But they have to regroup quickly and put the debacle behind them.
The Indians have generally managed to lift their game when they take on their bitter foes and it remains to be seen whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men can upstage the Pakistanis in what promises to be a thrilling contest under lights at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.
Tendulkar's ton of tons overshadowed India's defeat by the hosts, but with Sri Lanka devastated by injuries, the chance of Bangladesh recording a second win and clinching a place in the final is much improved.
Tendulkar will be mentally more relaxed after achieving feat and that could allow him to play more freely. Tendulkar has a good track record against Pakistan and will be determined to make an impact in league match against archrivals. While the Indian batting has done reasonably well in the Asia Cup after struggling on the bouncy Australian tracks, it is the bowling, which has been a cause of concern. The pacers -- Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Vinay Kumar --have not been consistent enough in the death overs on these flat sub-continental tracks while the spinners like R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been patchy. While the Indian batting has done reasonably well in the Asia Cup after struggling on the bouncy Australian tracks, it is the bowling, which has been a cause of concern.