India will have to quickly do damage control in terms of its batting struggles when they face off against Pakistan in the second Twenty20 international game on Friday.  India is looking to even the two match series at 1-1.

The India squad didn't perform up to par in the opener of the cricket series in Bangalore as they found themselves at the receiving end of a five-wicket bashing in which the middle of the order came up short.  Hence, the hosts struggled mightily to 130 for nine after they were 90 for two at one stage.

Nonetheless, the pressure will be on the shoulders of Mahendra Singh Dhoni along with the rest of the squad to execute in the second matchup.

According to Zee News, India's captain spoke about their middle-order batting woes and how the team failed to execute in opportunistic situations.

"The batsmen got out trying to play big shots.  We could have easily scored 200 if we had applied ourselves," Dhoni said.

Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir aside, all of the other India batsmen came up short against Pakistan's superb bowling attack, which was a testament to Umar Gul's veteran presence.

India desperately needs strong performances out of Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, and Rohit Sharma in order to rebound against its rivals, who are clearly just as motivated to prevail in the T20 series.

CLICK HERE to watch India take on Pakistan in the 2nd T20 via free live stream.  Coverage of the game will begin at 5:00 p.m. IST on Friday, Dec. 28.  The probable lineups can be viewed below.

Probable Lineups:

India:  Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin/Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Singh, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma.

Pakistan: Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan.

Tags: T20I Cricket