What The sixth match of 2014 Asia Cup, between India and Pakistan When Sunday, March 2, 2014 (08:00 GMT| 14:00 Local | 13:30 IST) Where Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Bangladesh The Teams India A lower-order collapse, miscommunication and collisions among fielders and the chances that went begging: India have only themselves to blame for being in the perform-or-perish situation they find themselves in. With Pakistan too needing a win to stay alive in the Asia Cup, Virat Kohli’s young team are in an unenviable position of pressure. India felt the absence of MS Dhoni in the lower-order, against Sri Lanka when the dismissal of the top-four batsmen triggered a collapse that rendered them at least 20 runs short of what looked like a certain target. Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik and Stuart Binny failed to perform their lower-order duties, and while wicketkeeper Karthik is indispensible, the other two must be feeling the pressure. Against the strong bowling attack of Pakistan, India would need someone to solidify the innings, hence opening the possibility of playing Cheteshwar Pujara in place of Ambati Rayudu. Since Binny, the all-rounder, bowled only four overs (one less than Rohit Sharma), there is a case of strengthening the bowling by including either leg-spinner Amit Mishra (who is also a decent lower-order bat) or pacer Ishwar Pandey. Pakistan Like their cross-border neighbours, Pakistan too have a win and a defeat under their belt. However, a bonus point against Afghanistan puts them higher on the points table. Like India, they too went down to Sri Lanka in a tight contest with little contribution from their lower-order. While bowling is their strong suit, inconsistency in batting often mars the Pakistani side. In this tournament so far, however, the top six batsmen have combined well together and that augers well for the team against the relatively inexperienced Indian bowling attack. Key Players India Getting a good start against the Pakistani pacers will be the key for India. With Rohit Sharma going out of touch once again, the onus will be on the in-form Shikhar Dhawan to play a long innings. On the personal front, Shikhar will be keen to breach the three-figure mark that he has missed it by a whisker twice now in a fortnight. Pakistan Umar Gul, with his ability to seam the ball around and generate the awkward bounce, will be quite handful for the Indian batsmen to handle in the first 10-15 overs. Rohit Sharma’s tendencies to fish outside the off-stump and Shikhar’s penchant to for the square of the wicket could prove an interesting aspect for Gul to work on and exploit in the early overs. His controlled line and length will also make Gul handy against India’s susceptible lower-order in the death over. Statistics India-Pakistan in ODIs

Venue Stats Overall: Matches – 70 Won by side batting first – 31 Won by side batting second- 39 Last 5 matches: Won by side batting first – 4 Won by side batting second- 1 Average first innings total at Mirpur Overall 227 Last 5 matches 244 Pace vs Spin at Mirpur (Last 5 matches)

Trivia Ravindra Jadeja will be playing his 100th match. In last three years Pakistan have never chased down a 250-plus target. Misbah-ul-Haq has the highest aggregate (4457) and most fifties (36) among the batsmen who have never scored a ODI hundred. Squads India: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Mohammad Shami, Ishwar Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja. Pakistan: Misbal-ul-Haq (capt), Ahmed Shahzad, Abdur Rehman, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Fawad Alam, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Talha, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul.