The India-Pakistan Asian Games final could come down to which team handles spin better, with the unpredictable surface at Japan’s Korogi Sports Park expected to make batting against slower bowlers a challenge.
India have already encountered pitches offering turn and uneven bounce during their campaign, while Pakistan’s bowling attack has also leaned heavily on spin. Against Bangladesh, Pakistan used only three overs of seam, with their spinners accounting for the rest.
“It is going to be a battle of spin,” former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said in an interview facilitated by Sony Sports Network.
He believed the surface could make batting particularly demanding, placing greater emphasis on the ability of both teams to attack spin rather than merely survive it.
“And I see in such circumstances, batting to be more challenging, especially because now these T20 batters will have to hit against spin on a pitch that has a lot for the spinners. So, it’s going to test the skills of the batters. And it’s going to be a challenge,” he said.
“It’s India-Pakistan, but it’s going to be India’s spin prowess, as in the ability to attack spin versus Pakistan’s ability to attack spin. I think it’s all going to come down to that,” he said.
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India, though, have a significant weapon in Ishan Kishan, who Manjrekar believed was well suited to these conditions. Kishan has been in prolific form and, according to Manjrekar, has also addressed an area that had previously troubled India.
“And especially with Ishan Kishan, who is in that form of his life, and I’ve never seen him bat better than he’s done in the last few months,” he said.
“In Ishan Kishan, because there was a time when India had a problem against spin. In Test matches, Devdutt Padikkal, particularly, seemed to have solved it. And Ishan out there in this batting line-up is a boon on a pitch like this.”
Aggressive template
India’s aggressive T20 batting template is unlikely to change because of the tricky pitches in Japan. Manjrekar did not expect them to respond to the conditions by reverting to the more cautious “wait-and-watch” approach of the past.
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“I don’t think they are going to dump their aggressive approach and play the wait-and-watch, which is the old classical way of doing things because of a tricky pitch,” he said.
“I think modern-day players in India have embraced a template where they have realised that this is only 20 overs and we have got — I mean, Washington Sundar was batting at number 9. So, they know they have a lot of batting depth, so might as well keep hitting,” he said.
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That approach carries a trade-off. India could lose wickets to aggressive shots on surfaces where the ball does not come on as expected, but the depth in their batting allows them to accept that risk.
“If you looked at the last game, there were only two batters that fired, and they were Vaibhav and Ishan, and both fired at slightly 180 for Vaibhav and 160 for Ishan. So, India will continue to bat that way, and we might get a little disappointed with the way some batters get out,” he said.
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The conditions in Japan have nevertheless provided India with an early test of how their attacking approach works out beyond familiar home surfaces. Manjrekar believed the responsibility will ultimately lie with individual batsmen to adjust their games rather than India abandoning the template.
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