Asia Cup 2018: Arch Rivals India and Pakistan clash for dominance in Asia

This will be first meeting between the neighbors after the ICC CT 2017 final.

One of the most anticipated battles will be between Bumrah and Amir The most anticipated match of the Asia Cup 2018 tournament between India and Pakistan will be played today in Dubai.

The Asian giants are meeting in international cricket for the first time after the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final in England when Pakistan routed India. India will be looking to get one back as they will be playing atleast two times in the tournament including this match.

Sarfraz Ahmed led Pakistani team routed Hong Kong in their first match, whereas India was troubled by the same opposition in their match a day before. But this match is a completely different proposition. The stakes are high in this match and so is the chance to get the upper hand in the competition with the two teams slated to meet in the super four stages as well.

Shikhar Dhawan showed that he is a better white-ball player than a red ball one with a century against Hong Kong, but India’s inability to score in the last 10 overs might come back to haunt them against a formidable Pakistani bowling attack. For Pakistan, it would be important that their openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq neutralize Jasprit Bumrah.

It would also be interesting to see how Pakistani batsmen counter the Indian spin twins and how Indian batsmen tackle the Pakistani fast bowlers.  

Whatever happens, the match is poised to be a cracker and the winner will be the cricket fans no matter who they are rooting for- India or Pakistan.

Toss: Pakistan wins the Toss and opted to bat
Playing XI:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,  Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c & wk), Mohammad Amir, Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Asif Ali, Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 19 Sep, 2018

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