India vs Pakistan Prediction: Who will win today's Asia Cup 2022 match?

Only nine times in the history of T20I cricket have Team India played Pakistan. These encounters have been anything but boring. Right from a historic bowl-out and a thriller in the final in 2007 to a one-sided hammering in 2021, bilateral clashes in the T20 World Cup - the primary tournament that has hosted such games - have been high-octane and highly entertaining.

The Asia Cup, another competition to have featured India versus Pakistan clashes, will serve as an interesting prelude to the T20 World Cup, to be played in Australia later this year. Both teams will treat the continental tournament as the final hurdle before the marquee ICC event, which comes only a year after its previous edition, where the Men in Blue were crushed to a pulp by their arch-rivals.

Shaheen Shah Afridi was the wrecker-in-chief on that occasion, and India will breathe a sigh of relief that the left-arm pacer is missing the tournament with injury. Pakistan will also be without Mohammad Wasim Jr., who suffered a side strain recently. India, too, have a pace duo out injured - Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel.

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Asia Cup 2022: India look to dispel 2021 T20 World Cup demons against Pakistan

India v Pakistan - ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021

The composition of India's playing XI is still up for debate. Whether India want to risk their right-handed top three of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli remains to be seen, with the latter two struggling for form of late. The wicketkeeper's spot is also an area of concern, with Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik - who play totally different roles - vying for the slot.

India might have to go in with only two specialist pacers - Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh - with Hardik Pandya giving them some support. Playing Avesh Khan as well would greatly weaken the lower order, considering Yuzvendra Chahal is a lock in the playing XI.

Pakistan, on the other hand, have a fairly settled batting lineup. While it doesn't boast a great deal of firepower, the unerring run-production of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan has consistently yielded dividends in the T20I format, especially in the UAE. Even without Shaheen, Azam could call upon three rapid quicks - Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah.

Unfortunately, the toss has a massive say in the T20s played in the UAE. The chasing side have been at a distinct advantage, both in the T20 World Cup and in the Indian Premier League. Moreover, both India and Pakistan are sides who aren't great at setting targets.

On paper, India look a touch stronger. Most of their bowlers are in prime form, and if their batting lineup can come up with the goods, they should be able to cruise to a victory and build on their excellent T20I head-to-head record against Pakistan. Fortunately for them, Pakistan's batting doesn't inspire much confidence either.

A close contest should be on the cards, one in which the team batting second makes a winning start to the Asia Cup. Taking the toss out of the equation, though, it can be said that India are the slight favorites.

Prediction: India to win Match 2 of the Asia Cup