ODI Asia Cup 2023 India Vs Pakistan Preview: India Vs Pakistan is the much-awaited on-field battle on the cricket ground. This game is a high-profile clash in all the Asia Cup and World Cup tournaments.
The die-hard cricket lovers wait for this epic encounter and the viewers who do not watch the game of cricket at all also watch the Indo-Pak game with a keen interest.
In the ODI Asia Cup 2023, India’s first-ever game will be against the arch-rival team of Pakistan. This game will be played on Saturday, 2nd September 2023 at Pallekele International Stadium in Sri Lanka.
This match and the other games of the ODI Asia Cup 2023 will be shown free on Disney+ Hotstar mobile application and the viewers can also enjoy the game on the Star Sports TV channel.
The men in green side will move to Sri Lanka after they gave a dominating performance at home against Nepal in the first match of the ODI Asia Cup 2023.
The co-host of this year’s tournament, Pakistan won the first match by a whopping margin of 238 runs. Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed smashed tons which propelled them to a huge score of 343 runs.
Then the bowlers also did an excellent job when they defended the mammoth total. Nepal was bundled out for just 104 runs and that too in 23.4 overs.
Shadab Khan picked up four wickets to his name. Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf got two wickets each. Naseem Shah and Muhammad Nawaz also got 1 wicket each in the opening encounter of the ODI Asia Cup 2023.
Now in a much-pressure game against the men in blue side, the arch-rivals team, Pakistan will look to repeat what they did against Nepal in yesterday’s match.
The Saturday clash between these two sides will be the first match after the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. India won that thrilling game in Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Virat Kohli was the real hero for the men in blue side in that game and he will be the player to watch out for in this clash as well.
India will have some thinking to do with their batting order after KL Rahul will miss the game against the Pakistanis. They will need Ishan Kishan behind the stumps.
But where Kishan will bat? That is the big question. Ishan is much suited to the opening position. With Shubman Gill also in great form, can India drop him and go with Ishan who will also keep wickets? Or can India play Sanju Samson in the middle order to keep Gill in the playing XI? These are the questions that the team management, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will have to answer.
Shreyas Iyer will bat at the much-debated position of number four in the first game. Iyer will be making a comeback after a long injury break.
Jasprit Bumrah will be the bowler to watch out for in this match. Boom Boom made a good comeback in the series against Ireland so all the eyes will be on him.
Jaddu, Kuldeep and Axar Patel are the three spin bowlers in the first game on Saturday and India should go with Shardul Thakur as well in the squad as the fourth pace bowler of the team.
Lord Thakur can also add depth in the batting order of the men in blue which will be a big plus in the match against Pakistan.
India – Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur/Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf.
Batters – Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Iftikhar Ahmed
Bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah, Haris Rauf and Mohammed Shami
All-rounders – Shadab Khan and Ravindra Jadeja
Wicket-keeper – Ishan Kishan
Vice-captain – Fakhar Zaman
Captain – Rohit Sharma
The toss will start at 2.30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 9 AM GMT. The match will start at 3 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 9.30 AM GMT.
