If somebody tells you there are greater rivalries than India vs Pakistan on the 2023 Asia Cup, don't belief them.
Of late, the Afghanistan vs Pakistan and Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh video games might need been spicier on the sector, and nastier off it, however the historical past - each cricketing and in any other case - and the standard of the gamers make India vs Pakistan arguably the most important rivalry in world cricket. That they hardly ever face one another nowadays makes each match a extremely anticipated one.
And that can be one of many the explanation why it is not simple to say who the favourites are for Saturday's sport in Pallekele.
India WLWLL (final 5 ODIs, most up-to-date first)Pakistan WWWWL
India must take some robust calls. If they decide Shardul Thakur to elongate their batting line-up, it could depart simply two spots for frontline seamers (assuming Kuldeep Yadav is a certainty). In that case, Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are prone to get the nod forward of Mohammed Shami and Prasidh Krishna.
India (possible): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Ishan Kishan (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur/Mohammed Shami, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan can take into account bringing in Faheem Ashraf for Mohammad Nawaz. But given India are anticipated to have 5 right-hand batters of their prime six, they might not achieve this.
Pakistan (possible): 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Agha Salman, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Naseem Shah, 11 Haris Rauf
The match will likely be performed on a recent pitch but when it behaves something just like the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh one, with assist for each seamers and spinners, good luck to the batters. There's a forecast of rain, although, from early morning until mid-afternoon, which may delay the beginning.
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