It will be more than a week since India and Pakistan clashed in their league match in Kandy on September 2nd but the second Indo-Pak clash is here upon us. It's the Super Four stage and the arch-rivals lock horns with each other at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo with weather being the third player in the frame.
Inclement weather and heavy rains have been lashing Colombo for the past couple of weeks and there is strong rain forecast for Sunday.
However, weather aside, Team India will be contemplating how they are going to deal with the fiery Pakistan pace attack that will get unleashed on them.
India's Challenge - Facing Pakistan's Pace Attack
The trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah have been in rollicking form ever since the league game against India where they picked up all ten wickets among themselves.
They troubled the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill and ace No 3 Virat Kohli before getting all of them out in quick time.
India can ill afford that kind of a collapse every now and then with the Asia Cup moving towards its business end. Rohit and Gill's unbeaten 147-run opening partnership in the match against Nepal would have given them a boost. But even they would realise Pakistan is a different deal altogether.
Middle Order Pressure
The middle order which is not exactly in the greatest shape either with the exception of Ishan Kishan and all-rounder Hardik Pandya would have to take immense pressure.
The return of KL Rahul augurs well for India but whether India will blood him straight into a crunch encounter against Pakistan by dropping an in-form Kishan remains to be seen.
It is quite likely Rahul will play given that he needs to get crucial game time before the World Cup comes around and any and every competitive game from now is important from that perspective.
Bowling Dynamics
The bowling will revolve around Jasprit Bumrah, who will return after missing the Nepal match, and it is quite likely that Mohammad Siraj might get a look-in ahead of Mohammad Shami as he was among the wickets in the Nepal game.
Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up three wickets, will play an important role with bat and ball for India.
Pakistan's batting will also be tested by the Indian bowling which may not appear as threatening as Pakistan's but can cause a fair amount of trouble.
Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan are the current form men for Pakistan but the rest of the top-order batsmen will be looking to make an impact against India.
Babar Azam's class is well-known but he would be looking to leave a mark against India in a big match such as this.
The Need for a Full Game
If we have one full game with no weather interruptions, then Pakistan's batting will probably have their first big test of the Asia Cup as they had it fairly easy against Bangladesh in the previous game.
Team India will be hoping to prove a point that their top-order failure in the previous clash was an aberration by putting on a show in Colombo.
