Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya produced a wonderful rescue act while Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled a fiery spell but rain forced India and Pakistan to split points in an Asia Cup match that had all the ingredients of a thrilling finish in Pallekele, Sri Lanka on Saturday. Before the heavens opened up, India posted 266 all out in 48.5 overs. Kishan (82 off 81 balls) and Pandya (87 off 90 balls) milked 138 runs for the fifth wicket stand off 141 balls to lift their side from 66 for 4 in 14.1 overs.
The no result meant that Pakistan ended their Group A proceedings with 3 points, and it also assured them of a place in the Super Four of the tournament.
India, who logged a point from their opening fixture, are expected to beat Nepal on Monday and progress to the Super Four.
However, the match offered some bright points to both the teams before the soggy end.
From an Indian perspective, the performance of Kishan and Pandya will be treated as a happy portend.
They joined forces after Pakistan pacers Afridi, who accounted for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli early, and Haris Rauf combined to rock India’s top-order.
In a sense, it was a rather unfamiliar job for both Pandya and Kishan – batsmen who generally love to give a wallop to the bowlers.
But the conditions in Pallekele, which always had a lick of drizzle, and a high-octane bowling attack meant that the Indian pair would have to curb their shot-making instincts.
They had to be precise in the selection of each shot, and needed to be extra patient.
Afridi (4 for 35) tailed the ball in, Naseem Shah tested their awareness outside the off-stump and Rauf (3 for 58) pounded in those heavy balls, but the Indian duo soaked in all those tough moments.
The boundaries and big shots were not easy to come by but Pandya and Kishan pushed the board ahead with singles and their 50-run partnership came in just 52 balls.
Pandya was happy to play the second fiddle Kishan during their fifth wicket alliance.
This was the first time the left-hander was batting below the No. 4 slot in his career, and he didn’t show any signs of nerves.
That Pakistan captain opted to give a longer spell to his spinners – Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Agha Salman – also played its part in Kishan getting settled in the middle.
Kishan brought his 50 in a mere 54 balls. There were times when Pakistan pacers, particularly Rauf, tested him with short-pitched balls, trying to exploit his Achilles Heel.
But on this day, the Jharkhand man effectively negated the bumpers, coming nicely behind the line and using his wrist to give direction to the ball or keep it low.
Kishan could have easily converted the innings into his second three-figure score in ODIs. But his attempt to play a big pull off Rauf ended in the hands of Babar inside the circle.
However, his innings might have eased some worries in the Indian camp about a wobbly middle-order in the absence of KL Rahul.
Once Kishan departed, Pandya took charge of the Indian innings and slammed spinner Nawaz for a massive six over mid-wicket.
The innings of Pandya could be viewed as another brick in the new profile of an innings-builder that the all-rounder has been trying to compile for himself. This surefootedness of Pandya will certainly be welcomed by the team think-tank.
However, Afridi returned to snap his stay while Pandya was motoring towards his maiden ODI hundred.
The left-arm pacer rolled his fingers to deliver a slower ball and Pandya just prodded it into the hands of Salman at extra cover.
From thereon, a few beefy blows by Jasprit Bumrah carried India past the 250-run mark.
However, just after the end of the Indian innings, another spell of steady downpour started and it never allowed the match to resume.
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Players of India and Pakistan shake hands after their Asia Cup match on Saturday gets called off.© AFP
The much-anticipated India vs Pakistan match in Pallekele was called off due to rain on Saturday. The Babar Azam-led side could not start its chase as rain eventually forced the match to be abandoned. India were bowled out for 266 runs after opting to bat first as Shaheen Afridi registered a four-wicket haul (4 for 35). The left-arm pacer kept the Indian team at bay despite fifties from Hardik Pandya (87) and Ishan Kishan (82). India were 66 for 4 at one stage but a 138-run partnership between Hardik and Kishan brought them back in the game. Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf picked three wickets each, denting India’s progress towards the end.
Given that the match ended without a result, both India and Pakistan shared a point each.
In Group A, Pakistan continue to be at the top spot, adding another point to their tally. They now have three points to their credit with a net run rate (NRR) of 4.760 and that helps them qualify for the Super 4 stage. Pakistan defeated Nepal by 238 runs in the opening game of the tournament.
India follow Pakistan with one point from Saturday’s game and an NRR of zero. Nepal are at the bottom spot in the table with zero points and an NRR of -4.760.
In Group B, Sri Lanka are at the top spot with two points and an NRR of +0.951. Afghanistan, who are yet to play a game, are at the second spot, while Bangladesh, who lost to Sri Lanka in their first game are at the bottom spot with zero points and an NRR of -0.951.
India will be playing their next match against Nepal on Monday.
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India vs Pakistan: Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram© Twitter
The most-awaited Asia Cup 2023 between India and Pakistan is almost here and the fans are eagerly waiting to behold the cut-throat competition between the arch-rivals. The Babar Azam led-side will be coming to this match after thrashing Nepal by 238 runs. On the other hand, it will be the opening match for Team India in the continental event. The mouth-watering match will be played in Kandy, Sri Lanka on Saturday but many reports have suggested that rain might play a spoilsport.
As there is no certainty about the rainfall, former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram has shared an important regarding the weather in Kandy. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the Pakistan legend shared a video from his hotel room, describing the weather.
“Many people are asking me about the weather in Kandy. Where I’m staying, there’s a drizzle with cloud cover. But you can see that the weather is clearing. The ground is one hour away from here. Maybe, the weather is different there,” Akram said in the video.
Weather update from beautiful Kendy. #AsiaCup2023 #pakvsind #CricketTwitter #SriLanka pic.twitter.com/J5wWI6osDK
— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) September 2, 2023
“All the best to both teams. And remember, it’s just a match. Someone will win and someone will lose. Enjoy good cricket,” he added.
As per a report in Accuweather, there will be intermittent rain almost all throughout the day. The match is scheduled to start at 3:00 PM IST. But, it is going to be hard for the groundsman to prepare have the stadium ready for cricketing action by that time as rain is expected to take place at the venue since morning.
The chances of rain at Pallekele are 84% during the day. To be more specific, in the morning, there’s a 60% chance of rain in the city. Even in the afternoon, there remains 60% chance of a downpour. In the evening, the chances increase to 65%.
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File photo of Babar Azam (left) and Rohit Sharma.© AFP
India are set to take on Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2023 campaign opener on September 2 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka. Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the Indian side against the Babar Azam-led team. This will be the first game between the two sides since their 2022 T20 World Cup game. Ahead of the game on Saturday, Rohit praised the Pakistan team and also gave an interesting reply when asked if there would be an India vs Pakistan game in the final of the tournament.
“Probably maybe in this tournament,” was the reply of Rohit on chances of a summit clash between the arch-rivals in Asia Cup 2023.
“Pakistan have played really well in recent times in T20s and ODIs. They worked really hard to be No.1, it’ll be a good challenge for us tomorrow (Saturday),” he added.
Ahead of the Asia Cup, Pakistan rose to the number 1 position in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings. On the other hand, India are at the third spot.
While fans are much excited about the clash that takes places on Satuday, Rohit downplayed the talks saying: “Rivalry is there for people to talk about. As a team, what we see is we have an opposition to play tomorrow and see what we want to do. What is going to help us is to keep doing the right things on the field.
“There are six very competitive teams in the Asia Cup and on a given day anyone can beat anyone.”
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There is a lot of excitement among cricket fans, especially the Indians, for the upcoming clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023, but there is a lot of struggle involved for a lot of these die-hard supporters of Men in Blue as tickets are sold out, so are the hotels and accommodation in Kandy, Sri Lanka, where the match is taking place. India and Pakistan will clash in their highly-anticipated Asia Cup 2023 match on Saturday at Kandy. The MD of a hotel told ANI that all the rooms are full and they are still receiving inquiries from fans.
“We are happy that cricket is back here. We are getting ready for the match between India and Pakistan. We are still receiving inquiries and started receiving them a month back. Now, we are fully packed. It is an amazing experience to see this after a long while, after the economic crisis and COVID-19,” said the MD to ANI.
She said that the hotel is preparing really well to make the experience of their customers a great one.
“We are ready to give them the Indian-style food, just the way they asked us,” she said.
Another hotel owner told ANI, “This Asia Cup is a good opportunity for the hotels. During the COVID-19, we faced a lot of losses. But now, our rooms are fully booked and packed. We are still receiving inquiries from people, but unfortunately, we do not have rooms for them. We are giving people discounts on food and liquor. This all is good for our country after the economic crisis and COVID.”
Fans are extremely disappointed to miss out on catching the India-Pakistan match live as tickets are sold out.
A fan told ANI. “I just came here to watch the India-Pakistan match from Colombo. But all tickets are sold out. It is really unfortunate, but I have booked tickets for the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh match and I will watch it. All hotels and accommodation are also full. I really wanted to see Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and Pakistan pace attack.”
Another fan from Canada also missed out on the match due to tickets selling out.
“I came from Canada to watch India versus Pakistan. Tickets are sold out. They are expensive too. Wanted to watch Virat Kohli and Team India. Accommodation is expensive, all hotels are booked, could not find anything,” he said.
Pakistan, India and Nepal are in Group A while Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are in Group B. The tournament will follow a hybrid model with Pakistan hosting four matches across two venues and Sri Lanka hosting the remaining games. The six group-stage matches will be followed by the Super Fours beginning September 6.
The final will be played by the top two teams at the end of the Super Fours on September 17 in Colombo.
Indian Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
Pakistan:Babar Azam (c), 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).
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The Asia Cup might be a continental tournament in cricket but it’s biggest point of attraction remains the India vs Pakistan contest. With the two teams set to face each other, potentially on three occasions, fans are understandably enthralled. In fact, the India vs Pakistan contest remains the most talked about subject of the event. While comparisons between the two teams have been coming thick and heavy, former Pakistan star Salman Butt doesn’t feel the Indian team is as prepared for the challenge his compatriots.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Butt hailed the clarity that Pakistan have in terms of squad selection whereas the topic is a lot more open for the Indian team. For Butt, India’s team is a lot more fragile, especially considering some of the star players have been injured for a long time.
“If we look at India’s fast bowling, fitness is a concern. Players have been unfit for a long time, we don’t know if they are fragile, will they go full throttle. Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, they have youngsters, who have played plenty of cricket but they don’t have that much of experience.
“India have won matches only when Rohit Sharma has played well or Virat Kohli has done something spectacular. When the onus is on others they have mostly struggled,” he said.
While the Indian team has quite a few match-winners, Butt finds the batting unit ‘brittle’. In comparison to Pakistan, Butt also feels India don’t have the sort of express pacers that Babar Azam‘s side has.
“Pakistan have Babar, Rizwan, Fakhar, Shadab, Shaheen, Haris Rauf. And in my opinion, Pakistan have a much larger core group. India too have match-winners like Jadeja, Shami, Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. But their batting is brittle, if Pakistan pick the two big wickets then the others will have a lot to prove. They have not helped India win matches against Pakistan or in their own,” the former Pakistan captain opined.
“We have bowlers who can bowl at 90mph, only one or two can touch 90mph, others don’t have that much pace. This is an added advantage. We have both types of spinners, fast bowling all-rounder, and he too touches 140kph,” he said.
Butt also took a swipe at the IPL, saying no matter how much the Indian players grind themselves in the T20 league, it doesn’t bring the sort of pressure that a match against Pakistan does.
“There are plenty of expectations from India, hence the pressure is more. And since India have not played against Pakistan for a long time for whatever reasons, their players no matter how much IPL they’ve played, they don’t have the experience of playing in such a high-voltage clash. Chahe subah, dopahar, sham IPL khel le (no matter how much you play in the IPL) it does not bring the same pressure, which is during India-Pakistan series,” he said.
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