Cricket: India ill-equipped to gain T20 revenge over Pakistan

Published on 28/12/2012 00:00

INDIA will be desperate for revenge in the second of their T20 internationals against fierce rivals Pakistan in Ahmedabad today.

Pakistan won the first clash in Bangalore by five wickets with two balls left. Shoaib Malik was the visitors’ hero with a half century topped offwith a match-winning six in the final over.

The domestic T20 Indian Premier League is regularly put forth as one of the reasons for India’s Test decline but it doesn’t seem to have done much to improve them in the shortest form of the game either.

Ravichandran Ashwin, the one Indian bowler who seemed to have established himself, was left out of the first T20, a move that captain Mohammad Hafeez suggested helped Pakistan. Hafeez said: “The way we played the last match, our morale is quite high… I will give credit to the bowlers and fielders. They [India] were 70 for no loss and after that we came back.

“Bowling has always been our strength.”