India and Pakistan will face each other in their second Champions Trophy match at the Dubai International Stadium today. The Men in Blue won their last match against Bangladesh by 6 wickets, while Pakistan suffered a devastating 60-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand.
While Pakistan and India are one of cricket’s greatest rivalries, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar claims that the arch-rivals are “nowhere near India’s league” at this stage. Manjrekar also noted that India have better middle-over bowling than Pakistan, who have only one specialist spinner in Abrar Ahmed.
Notably, the Dubai pitch had favoured the quicker bowlers in the recently concluded IL T20 league. However, in the Champions Trophy match between India and Bangladesh, the pitch turned out to be slow and without grass, which helped the spinners get more help from the wicket as compared to the faster bowlers.
Sanjay Manjrekar on India – Pakistan match:
Commentating during the Afghanistan vs South Africa match, Manjrekar said,”Pakistan is nowhere near to India’s league. India have dominated them right throughout in recent times, and this time, Pakistan look even weaker, but that hasn’t done anything to take the shine off the battle,”
“You need spinners to succeed in these conditions and Pakistan only have one specialist spinner in Abrar Ahmed. They will bowl Salman Agha or Khushdil Shah but that won’t be enough to trouble the Indian batters. Pace won’t be able to have much of an impact,” Manjrekar added.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar further said that Pakistan’s faster bowlers had seen better days while their is nothing in the team’s spin department.
“So, all the trickery that he (Shaheen Afridi) had was not the same without the speed in the air. Haris Rauf had the pace but was not quite able to lead [the attack] like [Jasprit] Bumrah does with his fast bowling. Naseem Shah has emerged as the best bowler on form. Yes, fast bowling is their main strength. There is almost nothing in the spin department. But even in the fast bowling, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi have seen better days.” Manjrekar said about Pakistan’s bowling attack.
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