The Asia Cup 2023 sees a cricketing spectacle this Saturday as India locks horns with arch-rivals Pakistan. The meeting in the continental tournament will be their first this year, and first since the thrilling clash in the T20 World Cup last year, when a Virat Kohli chasing masterclass assured India a four-wicket win in Melbourne. More significantly, the Saturday's match will be the first India-Pakistan game in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup.
Pakistan have the momentum this time, as they enter the encounter on the back of a dominant 238-run win over strides Nepal. India, meanwhile, took part in a five-day preparatory camp in Alur before arriving in Sri Lanka on Wednesday earlier this week. This year, Team India's performances in ODIs has been a mix of highs and lows. They secured victories against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, but they encountered a series loss at home to Australia in March.
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Following the IPL, India made a comeback to the ODI format against West Indies; however, the performance from the batters left room for improvement, as India managed to clinch a 2-1 win. Notably, India's experiments with team combinations garnered significant criticism on social media from fans and experts alike. As the blockbuster India-Pakistan encounter looms, former Pakistan skipper Ramiz Raja has also criticized the Rohit-Dravid team management for tinkering too much with the playing XI.
{{/usCountry}}Following the IPL, India made a comeback to the ODI format against West Indies; however, the performance from the batters left room for improvement, as India managed to clinch a 2-1 win. Notably, India's experiments with team combinations garnered significant criticism on social media from fans and experts alike. As the blockbuster India-Pakistan encounter looms, former Pakistan skipper Ramiz Raja has also criticized the Rohit-Dravid team management for tinkering too much with the playing XI.
{{/usCountry}}“India might be a little rusty, they are still searching for the right combination. The one big reason for that is even in the World Cup year, they haven't succeeded in producing a settle unit. I'm actually shocked that they are tinkering unnecessarily with a winning combination, they experiment with batting order and the focus moves to something else,” said Ramiz on his official YouTube channel.
“If you ask anyone about Pakistan's playing XI, he will tell you without much of a thought. But if you ask someone about India's XI, there are still doubts. And this might benefit Pakistan.”
Pakistan currently no.1
In contrast, Pakistan are sitting comfortably at the no.1 spot in the ODI rankings, thanks to their 3-0 clean-sweep victory over Afghanistan ahead of the Asia Cup. The Babar Azam-led side has improved significantly in the white-ball formats and under the star batter, Pakistan has also improved its stature in IND-PAK clashes; in four T20Is since the last meeting in fifty-over format between both sides, Pakistan clinched two wins including a 10-wicket victory in the 2021 World Cup.