Richard Mann previews the eagerly anticipated Cricket World Cup clash between India and Pakistan at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Recommended bets
2pts Rohit Sharma top India batsman at 10/3
1pt Wahab Riaz top Pakistan bowler at 7/2
India v Pakistan
When the fixtures for the any ICC event are announced, India versus Pakistan is always one of the first to leap off the page and Sunday's clash between the two arch rivals promises to be as enthralling, and significant, as any in recent times.
Defeat for Pakistan would surely end their World Cup hopes having lost to Australia on Wednesday and the West Indies earlier in the tournament but they will be hopeful of springing a surprise, just as they did when beating India in the final of the Champions Trophy at The Oval two years ago.
The continued excellent of Babar Azam and the return to form of pace bowlers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz gives Pakistan three high-class performers to pin their hopes on but their batting, on the whole, has yet to fire consistently while they were ragged in the field against Australia.
Conversely, India have done nothing but impress so far, beating South Africa in ruthless fashion before defeating Australia with a near-perfect performance on Sunday, a strong batting innings followed by a typically intense and energetic display in the field which complimented India's impressive and wonderfully varied bowling attack.
Despite a hand injury to Shikhar Dhawan meaning India will have to reshuffle their batting order - KL Rahul will move up to open the innings - the 2011 champions look in really good shape heading into what is always a grudge match and given how inconsistent Pakistan have proven to be in the tournament to date, Virat Kohli's side are hard to oppose.
Nevertheless, as we saw in their victory over England at Trent Bridge, Pakistan are capable of producing some excellent cricket on their day and as such, the outright market makes little appeal with India priced up at 2/5 and Pakistan available at 9/4.
There does look to be a couple of bets in the match, though, with Rohit Sharma fancied to continue his excellent form and oblige in the top India batsman market.
With a career average pushing 50, Sharma can lay claim to being the best ODI opening batsman in the world and he has started the current World Cup in terrific form, stroking a flawless unbeaten 122 in India's opening match against South Africa before adding a classy 57 against Australia only a few days later.
Sharma's approach is almost a throwback to the the early 2000s, happy to bed himself in early before accelerating through the middle and latter part of the innings, and his ability to bat through 50 overs and clear the ropes against spin and pace alike has already seen him register three double hundreds in this form of game.
With the aforementioned injury to Dhawan meaning India are shorn of one of their most experienced performers, there will be even more responsibility on Sharma's shoulders and the need for him to bat long and go big is something that generally brings out the best in this supreme natural talent.
Just to seal the deal, the prospect of rain in Manchester might mean we are in for a reduced-overs match and were that to be the case, opening the batting ought to put Sharma at a significant advantage when it comes to the amount of balls he could potentially face compared to his colleagues. 10/3 is too big.
To a lesser degree, there is a bet in the top Pakistan bowler market with Wahab earning the nod over fellow left-arm pacer Amir at 7/2.
Both have made successful returns to the Pakistan set-up having fallen out of favour with coach Mickey Arthur and although Amir took his tournament tally to 10 wickets when claiming excellent figures of 5/30 against Australia, Wahab has bowled just as well in the last few weeks and can count himself a shade unlucky having had two catches shelled off his bowling against Australia alone.
Nevertheless, he continues to run in hard for his captain Sarfraz Ahmed and the crucial three wickets he picked up in the victory over England demonstrated the benefit of the hard work he has put in on his fitness in the build up to this competition, Wahab regularly topping 90mph and even finding a hint of reverse swing at the death.
Wahab is bowling better than his recent returns would suggest and he is close to getting his just rewards.
Posted at 1200 BST on 14/06/19.
