Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Ahead of the final of the Kitply Cup between Indian and Pakistan Team India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a problem of plenty. He brought in RP Singh in place of Ishant Sharma for the game against Bangladesh. RP took three wickets to land Dhoni in a fix. RP looked in great form and it would be hard for any captain to leave out a bowler like Ishant. Dhoni could look to make Irfan sit out but it would probably be like keeping a batsman out of the eleven.

Dhoni at the moment is not ready to take the risk of going in with six batsmen but the fact is that risk stands either way. Pakistan batters looked much more comfortable against Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan who were not required to complete the full quota of the fifth bowler as Pakistan were bowled out.

Irfan seems to be in good batting form and the capabilities of Praveen and Piyush with the bat must encourage captain Dhoni to go in with five bowlers. If Dhoni doesn’t take five bowlers into a match with this combination, there is rare chance that he will ever.

Pakistan could be lured into playing Fawad Alam, the spinner on the slow pitch. But it wouldn’t be such a good idea to play a new spinner against India. Afridi is a different case because of his accuracy. And also Iftikhar bowled reasonably well and even Wahab Riaz did well in the match against Bangladesh.

Team winning the toss would like to make first use by batting first as the track may slow down progressively. Fans will be looking forward to seeing a bit more intriguing battle this time.

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