Asia Cup 2023: India vs Pakistan gets added meaning with World Cup in sight

Afghanistan vs Pakistan is shaping up to be a great rivalry. Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka has seen plenty of drama both on and off the field. But nothing comes close to matching India vs Pakistan.

The quality of India vs Pakistan, the history of the clash and the importance of it tops all other rivalries in the Asia Cup. One could well make a case that this is bigger than even the Ashes given the subtext of political tensions between the two countries. Fact that they don’t play each other regularly adds to the anticipation for fans and non-regular watchers alike.

Their last meeting in a 50-over match came at the 2019 World Cup when India won convincingly. Since the 2017 Champions Trophy, India and Pakistan have just met thrice in six years.

That means it is tough to pick who the favourites are going into the match at Pallekele, which could be affected by rain. The two teams could meet thrice over the course of the Asia Cup before the ODI World Cup, which would be the focus for all at the continental tournament.

Like the past, this one too is slated to be a battle of India’s batting against Pakistan’s bowling. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf vs Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli.

Asia Cup was expected to be the launchpad for the World Cup for KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Both underwent surgeries and lengthy period of rehab. While Shreyas has recovered fully, KL Rahul has stayed back for further assessment which gives Ishan Kishan an opportunity.

Kishan scored three half-centuries in the West Indies but they all came at the top of the order. With Rohit Sharma back, Kishan will drop down to the middle order. He is likely to occupy the No 5 spot but he has a mediocre average of 22.75 in the middle order. So, the Jharkhand player will have to cope with the fact that he will have fewer balls to face and has to maximise on them.

Another long term resident of the NCA, Jasprit Bumrah, checked out and travelled to Ireland for the T20Is. While bowling four overs worked out great for the seamer, bowling 10 overs under different conditions would be a different test for ‘Boom’.

For Pakistan, the concern is in having a top-heavy batting. Skipper Babar Azam is sublime form, having scored 151 runs against Nepal in their tournament opener. But Fakhar Zaman has had a lean patch since scoring three successive hundreds in April. Ever since, he’s produced just 139 runs in seven matches.

Usama Mir, Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman have been largely inconsistent barring the odd flicker, and they looked anaemic on the days when Mohammad Rizwan, who bats at No.4, fails.

Often, Pakistan required No. 7 Iftikhar Ahmed and No.8 Shadab Khan to add a bit of heft to their innings. Iftikhar was promoted against Nepal and helped himself with an ODI hundred.

Shadab made a valuable 48 against Afghanistan last week while Pakistan notched up a nervy 1-wicket win at Hambantota.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (travelling reserve).

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir (travelling reserve).