The Emirates EK 571 Boeing makes a smooth touchdown at the Dubai International Airport. WhatsApp springs to life. Immigration\u2019s done and a local SIM card is taken. As the correspondent passes by the smoking area, a group of youngsters are busy discussing cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cAap India se ho (are you from India?)?\u201d the leader of pack, who identifies himself as Burhan, asks. They are a group of five from Karachi who landed in Dubai on Thursday. The India-Pakistan match in the Asia Cup on September 19 is their pilgrimage. They are confident about a rematch between the two Asian giants nine days later, in the final on September 28. But tickets for the title showdown are at a premium, and it\u2019s already a burning concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeh tournament mein toh sirf India, Pakistan hi hai, lekin hamare pas final ka ticket nahin hai (this tournament is all about India and Pakistan but we don\u2019t have the tickets for the final),\u201d the young men asserts, giving a bloody nose to the game\u2019s glorious uncertainties. Burhan and company would be pleased to know that the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has decided to release extra tickets for the India-Pakistan fixture on September 19. Extra tickets could be offered for the final also, if the two sides get there. The Dubai International Cricket Stadium can accommodate 25,000 fans and needless to say, it would be a full house for the most anticipated match-up.<\/p>\n
Popularity wise, India versus Pakistan is the biggest showdown in cricket, bigger than the Ashes. The present void with regard to the bilateral series between the two countries adds an extra dimension to the fervent fandom, whenever the arch-rivals meet in big tournaments. Rare as they come, they are playing again after a gap of 15 months. Last time, when the two sides had a face-off in the ICC Champions Trophy final last year, Pakistan had rolled over India, riding on Fakhar Zaman\u2019s belligerent 106-ball 114 and Mohammad Amir\u2019s fast bowling masterclass. Zaman had a reprieve early in his innings, because Jasprit Bumrah had overstepped. And such was the overflow of raw emotions that even the Jaipur Traffic Police came to use Bumrah\u2019s no-ball image as a campaign for road safety. It bordered on the disrespectful, but the India-Pakistan contests at times put logic on the back-burner.<\/p>\n
Incidentally, the Champions Trophy final turned out to be Anil Kumble\u2019s final game in charge as the Indian team\u2019s head coach. He had to leave in acrimonious circumstances. The defeat also saw Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja, who had collectively given away 137 runs without a wicket in 18 overs in the final, being phased out of white-ball cricket. Pakistan\u2019s victory in the Champions Trophy final, however, had been an aberration. India, in fact, enjoy a clear supremacy in this fight. To put things in perspective, Virat Kohli\u2019s men had thumped Pakistan in the group league match in the Champions Trophy. Be it the ICC events, or the last edition of the Asia Cup, India have had the upper hand in recent fixtures. But maybe, Pakistan are better prepared this term. They have already hit the nets in Dubai, while India are smarting over a Test series loss in England. A sizeable chunk of the Test side would feature in the Asia Cup. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur and Bumrah will face the challenge of making an instant switch from red-ball to white-ball cricket, in completely different conditions. Also, without Kohli, the defending champions would be bereft of their best batsman, though they will be bolstered by the return of Rohit Sharma, the stand-in skipper.<\/p>\n
All-rounder Faheem Ashraf spoke about how Pakistan\u2019s preparation for the Asia Cup started with a boot camp in Abbottabad followed by a week-long training camp in Lahore before coming to Dubai. The 24-year-old, who took a five-for in Zimbabwe in July, was asked about India being \u201cdown on confidence\u201d and Kohli\u2019s absence. The youngster, though, didn\u2019t take the bait. \u201cEven without Kohli, India are a world-class side. We can never take them lightly.\u201d But obviously, the fixture will be poorer without him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Emirates EK 571 Boeing makes a smooth touchdown at the Dubai International Airport. WhatsApp springs to life. Immigration\u2019s done and a local SIM card is taken. As the correspondent passes by the smoking area, a group of youngsters are busy discussing cricket. \u201cAap India se ho (are you from India?)?\u201d the leader of pack, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42068,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42066\/revisions\/42068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}