Agency – ICC World Cup 2023 is going to be contested between India and Pakistan today. The match will start at 2:15 pm Nepali time at Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad.
The match between India and Pakistan is called the El Qualasico of cricket. The most awaited match of the World Cup is expected to be a very tough competition. Pakistan’s Babar Azam and India’s Rohit Sharma will be the captains.
India defeated Pakistan by 228 runs in the Asia Cup last month. India has come to the World Cup with high morale after winning the Asia Cup. In the World Cup, the five-time World Cup winners defeated Australia by 6 wickets and Afghanistan by 8 wickets.
Pakistan defeated the Netherlands by 81 runs in the first match. Similarly, Sri Lanka was defeated by Pakistan by 6 wickets. After defeating Sri Lanka, Pakistan completed the huge target of 345 runs. Because of that Pakistan’s morale is high.
Due to internal politics, these two countries have been playing only Asia Cup and World Cup. Because of that, it is seen with the most popularity in world cricket. India wants to beat Pakistan by taking advantage of home ground and audience. Pakistan wants to present title contenders by defeating India at home.
India’s Virat Kohli and Pakistan’s Babar Azam are the two leading batsmen. There is a debate going on about who is the best among these two batters in the world. Today’s performance will be very important. Pakistan’s total will depend a lot on the performance of number one ODI batsman Babar.
Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan is the most reliable batsman. He played a century innings of 131 runs to defeat Sri Lanka. Rizwan has been consistently doing well against India. As Rizwan plays good spin, he can dominate again against India. Opener Abdullah Shafiq scored a century against Sri Lanka. The performance of another opener, Imam-ul-Haq, is not so good. He wants a good performance from him.
Pakistan’s middle order batting is a weakness. The performance of Iftikhar Ahmed and Saud Sakil will be very important. Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz are lower order batsmen.
Pakistan’s fast bowlers are Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali. Afridi and Rauf are the main weapons. Without the high performance of these two bowlers, Pakistan’s victory seems very difficult. Hasan Ali has also made a good comeback.
Indian captain Rohin Sharma is in good form. Having scored a century against Afghanistan, he has prepared well before playing against Pakistan. India is likely to make a change in today’s game.
Shubman Gill will open while Ishan Kishan sits on the bench. Ishaan opened when Gill missed two games due to the degree of heatstroke. But as there is no place to play in the middle order, Ishaan seems to stay on the bench. India’s batting is the main weapon. Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Lokesh Rahul will handle numbers three to five. India’s batting will rely heavily on the top five. Rahul won against Australia by playing an innings of 97 runs from 3-2. Rahul’s rhythm can be deadly for Pakistani bowlers. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja will handle the lower order batting. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is the main weapon. His bowling will not be easy. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also been hitting Pakistan hard. India is likely to play Shardul Thakur to strengthen the lower order batting.
Head to Head:
There have been 7 matches between India and Pakistan in the World Cup. India has won all the matches
Pakistan squad: Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, Abdullah Shafiq, Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Sakil, Iftikhar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Junior. R Hasan Ali.
india team:Â Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Aire, Lokesh Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shiraz, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Ravindran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.
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