Asia Cup 2018, Ind vs Pak: India not the favourites in today's key match

Pakistan have a psychological advantage as they had convincingly beaten India when the two teams last met in the ICC Champions Trophy final on June 18, 2017, at the Oval in London

In Match 5 of Asia Cup 2018 at Dubai International Stadium in United Arab Emirates, Rohit Sharma’s India will today clash with arch rivals Pakistan, which is led by Sarfaraz Ahmed. The Indian cricket team will look to plug the weaknessed unravelled in their show against so-called minnows Hong Kong on Tuesday. India might make a change to their playing 11 by bringing in Jasprit Bumrah in place of Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya could replace Khaleel Ahmed. On the other hand, Pakistan will be high on confidence after crushing Hong Kong in their first game of the tournament.

Besides, Pakistan have a psychological advantage ahead of today's game, as they had convincingly beaten India when the two teams last met each other — in the ICC Champions Trophy final on June 18, 2017, at the Oval in London. In that arether forgettable outing for India, Pakistan had amassed a mammoth total of 338/4, with Fakhar Zaman hitting a century. Later the mighty Indian batting line-up had crumbled like a pack of cards against the bowling attack of Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz and Mohamed Amir.

India Team News

In their previous match of Asia Cup 2018, against Hong Kong, India looked rather rusty, with Shikhar Dhawan's century being one of the few respectable high points for the side. Personally for Dhawan, this would be a confidence booster, especially as he had failed to score big during India's recently concluded tour of England. Though he gave a solid start to the team along with Ambati Rayudu, with a partnership of over 100 runs, regular skipper Virat Kohli's absence from the scene showed poorly in India's show against Hong Kong. A rather fragile middle order of the present side, quite unlike in earlier years, seems to be Achilles heel for India. On Tuesday, Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav were not able to hit big in death overs, and Dhoni was dismissed for a duck. On the bowling front, Bhuvneshwar Kumar looked rusty in his opening spell, leaking too many runs. The spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzuvendra Chahal, however, bowled well in the middle overs to bring India back in the game. Jasprit Bumrah is likely to replace Shardul Thakur, who bowled three no balls in an over and somehow shifted the momentum in Hong Kong's favour. 

Pakistan Team News

For Pakistan, Asia Cup is the start of a busy season. Right after this multi-nation tournament, they will play a home series against Australia and New Zealand, followed by a full tour of South Africa. Coming after an extended break, the Pakistan Cricket team started their Asia Cup campaign by crushing Hong Kong in the first Pool A game on Sunday to get the first two points on the Asia Cup 2018 points table. Pakistan's recent one-day international record makes for a rather interesting read. In their last three series, Pakistan have beaten Zimbabwe 5-0, been whitewashed 5-0 by New Zealand, and then beaten Sri Lanka 5-0. The trend suggests that once Pakistan are in the groove they are hard to stop. They have a combination of experienced players and young talent like Fakhar Zaman, who is coming after a fantastic ODI series in Zimbabwe where he finished as the leading run-getter (515 runs). Meanwhile, Shoaib Malik, the most experienced batsman in Pakistan line-up, is also among the leading run scorers in ODIs with 7,015 runs.

Here are the playing 11 probables of both teams:

India playing 11: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, M S Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzuvendra Chahal

Pakistan playing 11: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt. and wk), Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan

India vs Pakistan Head to head in Asia Cup

India and Pakistan have both won 5 matches each out of their last 11 encounters; one yielded no result. In the UAE, Pakistan have always got the better of India; they have won 19 out of the 26 matches played in the UAE.

Asia Cup 2018 India vs Pakistan match details

Match Date: 19 September, Wednesday

Match Time: 17:00 IST, 11:30 AM GMT, 03:30 PM LOCAL

Match Venue: Dubai International Stadium, Dubai. 

Asia Cup 2018 India vs Pakistan match live streaming details

Pool A encounter of Asia Cup 2018, India vs Pakistan, will be broadcasted on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1 HD. It will be available for live streaming on Hotstar app. Tatasky subscribers can also watch the match on Tatasky mobile app.

India vs Pakistan Toss prediction

Both the captains – Rohit Sharma and Sarfaraz— will look to win the toss and bowl first. Since, at Dubai International Stadium teams batting first won only 9 matches while team bowling first won 16 matches.

Here are the squads of both teams:

India Asia Cup 2018 squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, K Khaleel Ahmed

ALSO READ: Virat Kohli Rested, Rohit To Lead India In Asia Cup 2018 From Sept 15

Pakistan Asia Cup Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shan Masood, Sarfraz Ahmed(c), Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, Usman Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir

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