Will Suresh Raina get another big one?

Before the tournament began, it was widely assumed that the Asia Cup’s business end would actually begin on Wednesday.

The reality, of course, is that the hosts are as good as out of business and only the reckless would bet against an India-Sri Lanka final on Sunday.

Pakistan’s vice-captain Misbah-ul Haq, however, feels that Team India would be under “more pressure” during Wednesday’s clash with his team.

That’s strange as it’s Pakistan who need to win the remaining two Super Four matches with really huge margins and also hope for India to be thrashed by Sri Lanka (on Thursday).

Should India win on Wednesday, the hosts will be out of the tournament, with nothing at stake for anybody in the Super Four matches that remain.

In the group stage, Team India had thrashed Pakistan.

Meanwhile, till late on Tuesday, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten hadn’t finalised the XI, but it’s taken for granted that the rest is over for Virender Sehwag, Piyush Chawla and Praveen Kumar.

Irfan Pathan, as already reported in these columns, is fit. It’s likely that he’ll make a return at Rudra Pratap Singh’s expense.

Incidentally, it’s at the National Stadium in Karachi that Irfan got a Test hattrick, on the 2005-06 tour.

Pakistan, according to The Telegraph’s sources, have decided to retain the out-of-form Shahid Afridi but Mansoor Amjad and Wahab Riaz have been dropped.

Riaz’s place has gone to Abdur Rauf (Umar Gul’s replacement in the squad), with rookie offie Saeed Ajmal coming in for Amjad.

“Afridi was to have been dropped, but the captain (Shoaib Malik) and the coach (Geoff Lawson) felt his spin bowling could be handy on the National Stadium wicket... That’s how Afridi has got another chance,” one of the sources pointed out.

There was a question mark over Malik’s availability, as he’d been unwell for the past couple of days, but the captain personally told chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed that he wouldn’t miss the match.

With his job on the line, he’d better not.