Big India-Pakistan clash today

Rex Clementine at Pallekele

It’s been ten years since arch-rivals India played Pakistan on our shores and today we will witness the epic clash at Pallekele and possibly two more encounters over the next two weeks.

The nuclear armed neighbours bring both the countries to a standstill when they play each other and a better turnout is expected for today’s game after Pakistan Cricket Board, that organizes the event decided to bring down the ticket prices. The game between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was a disappointment with a lot of empty seats due to high ticket prices.

Grass bank tickets were priced at Rs. 9600 for today’s game and lots of tickets remained unsold. However, on Thursday a decision was taken to bring down the ticket prices to Rs. 1500. A better turn out is expected for today’s game.

Pakistan’s formidable pace attack is expected to make life difficult for the Indians, the most successful team in Asia Cup events.

All the talk maybe is about Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi but Haris Rauf is equally dangerous clocking speeds of 150kmph consistently.India despite possessing a formidable unit have blown hot and cold in multi-nation tournaments and will be hoping to fix their woes this time around.

Although the teams have met in T-20 Internationals in Asia Cups and World Cups, this is the first time they play each other in an ODI since the 2019 World Cup. With the 2023 World Cup a mere few weeks away, there’s even more interest in today’s clash.

Weather could play spoil sport though. There was no rain interruption for the first game between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Although it rained heavily in Kandy, Pallekele stayed out of trouble and fans will be praying that there will be clear skies today as well.

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).

India:

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

Umpires:

Ruchira Palliyaguru (SL) and Richard Illingworth (Eng)

Third Umpire:

Paul Wilson (Aus)

Match Referee:

Javagal Srinath (Ind)