India vs Pakistan: Evening out the odds

It is a contest of contrasts on numerous levels. As India gets set to take on Pakistan and put its horror loss against Australia at bay, MS Dhoni would be better off not resting on the distinction of never having lost to the men in green in World Cups.

India's performance against Pakistan in both formats of the World Cup has been good enough to earn wins. Going by the current scheme of things though reveals Pakistan in possession of the upper-hand in the clash in Colombo.

In the ongoing tournament, Pakistan are yet to lose a match while India lost its first against Australia on Friday - margin rather than the result being the appalling indication of the side.

The biggest question, again, which crops up is the combination Dhoni will bank on against the arch-rivals. The question of five bowlers vs the extra batsmen has been answered with fury after the single loss and compliments after an earlier win against England, complicating matters.

Matters are clear for Pakistan though, on the other hand. The top-three batsmen have fired and have so far combined to score 299 - Imran Nazir and Nasir Jamshed each with a fifty. Add Umar Akmal to the mix, batting at six and the middle-order assumes sturdy proportions as well. 0f course, Shahid Afridi at seven has been dismal so far but if he chooses to fire against India, Pakistan can look forward to a scintillating finish to their innings.

India's story in contrast has been rather confusing. Gautam Gambhir at the top has looked in fine touch but has failed to build on his starts. Rohit Sharma failed to get going on most occasions and yet hit a fifty against England. Virat Kohli has hit 105 runs but the one time he failed - against the Australians - the scoring turned into a trickle by T20 standards. Even MS Dhoni, though at 7, has only managed a best score of 18*, the strike rate not being one to brag about.

Then there is Irfan Pathan as the other opener who continues to evoke mixed reactions. In fact, the top-three have 216 combined runs in the tournament so far (taking Pathan's innings against Afghanistan into account rather than Sehwag who scored 8). In this figure, Kohli has almost half the share. This is 83 short of Pakistan.

Pakistan's bowling, till the match against South Africa, has been a slight concern for the side and India can look to exploit this chink in the armour. Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir have been pelted even by the Bangladeshi batsmen after the Indians had a merry time against them in the warm-ups. In fact, Gul's economy rate currently stands at 11.22 from nine overs. While according to Wasim Akram, India lack a genuine pacer, none of the regular bowlers in blue have economies in double digits. This even after the thrashing received from Australia - part-timers sharing the stress of the carnage here. (Ashok Dinda's two cost 26 against England but he is unlikely to play anyway).

India's batting vs Pakistan's bowling then? It's a quick-fire format of 40 overs but batting vs bowling is perhaps what is in store. Regardless of the toss, the Indian batting will have to launch a massive attack and sustain it for 20. After all, rain may render their spinners useless as Dhoni expressed on Friday. Pakistan on the other end, will have to get the pacers to strike early and create inroads regardless of the scoring or chasing abilities of their batsmen.