Asia Cup 2022: India playing Pakistan in their 1st match - good, bad, or a double-edged sword?

India and Pakistan will resume their rivalry in cricket when they lock horns in the Asia Cup 2022 in Dubai on Sunday (August 28). This will be the first match for both Asia Cup teams in the T20 event, which is being seen as a crucial tournament keeping the T20 World Cup in mind.

The Men in Blue and Pakistan have met in 132 ODIs to date. The latter have a significantly better record, having won 73 of those clashes, while India have won 55. Four matches have produced no results.

The rivalry is still at a nascent stage when it comes to the T20I format. India have registered better numbers here, winning six of the nine games, while Pakistan have been victorious in only two. The one match that ended in a tie during the 2007 World Cup was also pocketed by India via a bowl-out.

Since India and Pakistan clashes are the marquee events of any multi-nation tournament featuring the two sides, there is always additional pressure in these games.

The India vs Pakistan match is set to happen on 28th Aug, find the details on Asia Cup 2022 schedule.

In this feature, we analyze whether India taking on Pakistan in their first Asia Cup 2022 match is a good thing or a not so good one.

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When India met Pakistan in their first match of a big event last time

India’s first match in the 2021 T20 World Cup was against Pakistan in Dubai in October last year. The Men in Blue started as favorites, having never lost to the arch-rivals in a World Cup match, be it ODIs or T20Is.

The game turned out to be quite an anti-climax, though, as Pakistan hammered Team India by 10 wickets. Babar Azam sent India into bat after winning the toss, after which left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi took out Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cheaply.

India could never make a comeback into the contest after the early losses. Virat Kohli fought hard for his 57 before becoming Afridi’s third victim. The Men in Blue could only post 151 for seven after which Pakistan romped home courtesy of unbeaten half-centuries from Babar and Muhammad Rizwan. India’s bowling in the match was totally tepid.

There was a massive backlash following India’s pounding at the hands of Pakistan. The pressure was evident in the manner in which the team succumbed to New Zealand as well in the next game. They had just not recovered from the shock loss to their arch-rivals and their insipid showing against the Kiwis was an extension of their lackluster effort against Pakistan.

One match is too small a sample size to arrive at a conclusion of any sort. But it cannot be denied that playing Pakistan in the first match of a mega event can be a huge disadvantage for India if they lose, like they did in the T20 World Cup last year.

Fans are bound to go overboard, as they did last year, because as much as the players might deny, an India-Pakistan game goes beyond a cricket match. A separate contest takes place on social media, the press plays up the game like a war, and some publicity-hungry politicians from both countries do not miss the opportunity to wash dirty linen in public.

Of course, there is a flip side to the argument as well. If India begin a multi-nation event by beating Pakistan, their confidence level will rise to a different level. There will be plenty of euphoria all over the country and the support for the team for the rest of the tournament will be all that more passionate.

This shouldn’t be the case, but harsh as it may sound, that’s the reality. Indian fans also have their whims and fancies when it comes to supporting the Men in Blue.

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What does history say about India taking on Pakistan in their first match?

If we go back to the 2007 T20 World Cup, India were supposed to meet Scotland in their first group match. The game got abandoned and their first match of the tournament ended up being against Pakistan in Durban. They won the match via a bowl-out and the rest is history.

In 2014, Team India again began their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan. They won the game by seven wickets and went on to reach the final, hammering West Indies, Bangladesh, Australia and South Africa. They couldn’t lift the title, though, choking against Sri Lanka in the final. However, they seemed to carry the momentum of the win against Pakistan very far into the tournament.

Of course, there have been exceptions. India thumped Pakistan in their first match of the 2017 Champions Trophy, only to come a cropper in the final against the same opponents.

If we look at the history of the Asia Cup, India and Pakistan have not met in the first match of the tournament. The Men in Blue have mostly taken on Sri Lanka or Bangladesh in their opening clashes. Being the marquee game, organizers were keen on having the Indo-Pak tie somewhere in between to ensure interest in the tournament remains alive.

Times have changed, though, and the preference now is to have the key match at the start of a mega event. Even in the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, India and Pakistan will play their first match against each other at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Coming back to the main question, India taking on Pakistan in their first match of a tournament is a double-edged sword. A victory sets them up nicely, while a defeat is bound to affect their chances of progressing further in the tournament to quite a significant extent.

The reason the organizers want their potential bestseller to be out of the way at the very start of a tournament is a ploy that remains puzzling though.

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