Ahmedabad, December 28: Having failed to defend their home turf in the Tests against England and only managing to draw the T20 series, India are now on the brink of losing again, this time against Pakistan in the shortest version.
The knives are out and MS Dhoni's men are under pressure heading into the second T20 International here on Friday. Can they pull things back or will the rub of the green again go Pakistan's way, like it did in Bangalore?
With increasing regularity, opposition teams are targeting India's weakest link -- the bowling -- while the batting too hasn't been up to the mark. Some of India's strategies, and their team combination, have come in for criticism.
Against England, the bowlers couldn't defend 177 and against Pakistan in Bangalore, though the match looked close thanks to debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar's dream spell, the match was always in Pakistan's pocket once India lost nine wickets for 56 runs in their last 10 overs.
So what can one expect from India's second T20 against Pakistan at the Motera? On the face of it, the odds are slightly tilted in Pakistan's favour. Going by current form, India don't have the batting to tame a talented and varied Pakistan bowling attack.
Skipper Mohammad Hafeez was not off the mark when he said: "All our bowlers have proved that they are match winners in international cricket. We have enough experience in our bowling attack. No matter how good the opposition batsmen, we still believe we can make a comeback."
That prowess was on display in Bangalore when Pakistan's bowlers restricted India to 133/9 after the hosts were 77 for no loss by the 11th over.
While India's batsmen have failed to fire in unison, on the bowling front they may have made a mistake by leaving out R Ashwin for the Bangalore game. With the pitch at the Motera generally on the slower side, it's likely that the spinner will be included in the scheme of things this time around. Ashwin's batting too is a plus.
Pakistan, on the other hand, are on a definite high. Skipper Hafeez said: "It's a huge opportunity to wrap up the series here and we all are ready to grab it. Not just the T20, but we are very positive and ready for the entire tour here. We all are very united and we hope to give our best. Morale is very high.
"I am not very disappointed with the failure of the youngsters at the top of the order because everybody can't perform every day," Hafeez added.
"We all know that they are very good players and we have the belief in that they will come good tomorrow. But as a team, the good thing for us was that we came back from difficult situations both while batting and bowling. That's a huge positive for us."
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