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As India takes to the field against Pakistan at Colombo, there is a lot of chatter about how the 'Men in Blue' will take on their rivals' spin attack, which has as many as five players. However, the key also would be to play out the left-arm pace really well, especially during the powerplay.
Amid all the hype about Usman Tariq's sidearm action which comes with a pause and the trio of Abrar Ahmed, Mohammed Nawaz and Saim Ayub which has delivered timely strikes and brought in a fear factor, the left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has taken two wickets in the tournament so far and his partner-in-pace Salman Mirza, who bowled an economical spell of 3/24 against Netherlands, have done a rather decent, if not great, job in powerplay. During both their clashes against Netherlands and USA, the powerplay scores of the oppositions were 50 each. Netherlands had lost two wickets in that phase, with Mirza getting one scalp for 21 runs in three powerplay overs and Shaheen going for 23 runs in two overs. Against USA, while Mirza did not feature, Shaheen went for 17 runs in his two powerplay overs, with USA being 50/1 at the end of powerplay. However so far, India's game against left-arm pace has been exceptional. Against USA in their campaign opener, Indian batters, despite being far, far away from their best, managed to make their lead left-armer Saurabh Netrawalkar bleed runs. He gave away 23 runs in his two powerplay overs, including two fours and sixes and was taken to cleaners by skipper Suryakumar Yadav later on during death overs phase, giving away a total of 65 runs in four overs, including seven fours and five sixes. In the second clash against Namibia, India brutalised their left-arm pacers, Ruben Trumpelmann and JJ Smit. During the powerplay, the duo collectively leaked 61 runs in four overs, including six fours and five sixes. While later on Namibia managed to contain Team India courtesy a four-fer from skipper Gerhald Erasmus, the final figures of both lefties were not very respectable, with Ruben going for 38 runs in his four overs, with four boundaries and a six and Smit getting a wicket, but leaking 50 in his four overs, with four boundaries and sixes each. In all, India belted Namibia's left-armers for 88 runs in eight overs, including eight fours and five sixes. In the competition so far, against left-armers in these 12 overs, India have looted 153 runs, including 15 fours and 10 sixes and a strike rate of over 212. (ANI)
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