Super 4: IND vs PAK- How can India handle Naseem Shah successfully?

India and Pakistan will be facing each other in the super four of Asia Cup

India and Pakistan face off against each other once again, this time in the super four stage of Asia Cup 2022. This will be the second time the two teams will be playing against each other in a week’s interval.

India pulled off a cliff hanger against their arch rivals in the group stage match. It was the late heroics of Hardik Pandya that saw India get across the line in the last over of the match. But even after the win there were some areas of concern for the ‘Men in Blue’.

Naseem Shah bowled a lethal spell against India in the last match

One of the biggest problems was the Indian top order struggling against the young Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah. He bowled a lethal spell at the beginning of the match and had India on the back foot with KL Rahul’s wicket in the very first over. 

In his return spell he picked up Suryakumar Yadav and if not for his cramps India would have a harder time reaching the target. 

Going into today’s match, what can India do to reduce the efficacy of Naseem Shah?

In order to have a proper game plan against the pacer we need to understand what line and length he bowls at the different stages of the game. Let us look at his pitch map in the different spells during the group stage match against India. 

Naseem Shah's power play pitch map vs India

Naseem Shah's pitch map in the middle and death overs vs India

Naseem Shah's variations in power plays

Naseem Shah's variation in middle and death overs

Reading Naseem Shah

What are the things we can find out from the two figures and the tables. 

• In the power plays, Naseem looks to bowl around the good and back of length. 
• His prime weapon to the right handers in the power plays were the inswingers. 
• In his return spells Naseem goes a tad fuller. The margin is very little but he does bowl a bit fuller.
• In the middle and the death overs Naseem Shah looks to use the pitch more for his variations. 

These are observations from last week's India vs Pakistan match. In general Naseem looks to take the ball away from the batter. But probably keeping in mind the vulnerability of Indian batters against incoming balls and also due to the absence of Shaheen, he probably went the other way in that match.

How to play Naseem Shah? 

As the match will be taking place at the same venue, Naseem will probably look to ball the same line and lengths. So, the Indian batter will have to keep themselves ready for the incoming ball and also they could try and play most of his deliveries from the back foot. This will allow the Indian batters time to adjust with his movement early on. 

But, with his pace he might surprise the batter any given time with a full pitched delivery. So the best strategy would be to be watchful against Naseem at the start and play out his first two overs. Once he goes wicketless at the beginning it will create pressure on the other bowlers and that will work in India’s advantage. 

Also Read: IND vs PAK: India’s possible plans after Jadeja’s injury