India vs Pakistan: Three Key battles to look out for

India and Pakistan will lock horns for the second time in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 on September 4 in Dubai. Talking about the first game between both teams, the Men In Blue came up triumps in a low-scoring thriller. One of the heroes of the game was all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who is now ruled out of the tournament due to an injury.

He has been replaced by Axar Patel, who was in the reserves. On the other hand, Pakistan pacer Shahnawaz Dahani has been ruled out of the game due to a side strain. However, despite all of this, the intensity of the game won't be down. In this listicle, we will discuss the three key battles to watch out for the fans.

Three key battles to watch out for:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Rizwan (Image Credit: Twitter/Asia Cup)

1. Mohammad Rizwan vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Pakistan's opening and wicketkeeper batter in T20Is, Mohammad Rizwan is one of the strongest players on the on-side. In the calendar year 2021, he scored most of the runs on the leg side. Notably, that was his best year in terms of runs scored in a calendar year.

On the flip side, he has a tendency to force the ball on the leg side. The right-hander doesn't have enough shots on the off-side which got him into trouble in the last game. Kumar, who can swing the ball both ways can exploit his counterpart's weakness with the new ball. 

Yuzvendra Chahal, Asif Ali (Image Credit: Twitter)

2. Asif Ali vs Yuzvendra Chahal

Asif Ali is the designated finisher for the Pakistan team. His job is to score boundaries in the death overs. However, he has a weakness when batting against spin. Over the years, it has been seen that the right-hander isn't very comfortable against spinners.

And, who better than Indian leggie, Chahal, who can exploit the weakness of Ali. Even though the leggie might not look like bowling in the death overs as of now. However, a leg-spinner bowling one of his overs in death might not be a bad idea. 

KL Rahul, Naseem Shah (Image Credit: Twitter/Asia Cup)

3. KL Rahul vs Naseem Shah

India vice-captain KL Rahul is woefully out of form due to a lack of game time. A few months ago, he sustained a groin injury which is why he went on to miss a few series. He, recently, made a comeback in the game.

Since then, the right-hander has been struggling with his form and was bowled out on a golden duck against Naseem Shah last time. This time around, the battle will be more interesting as Rahul hasn't found his form yet.