World Cup, India vs Pakistan: Rohit Sharma elects to bowl
In what is being called the mother of all battles, India are up against Pakistan in Match 12 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. An enticing contest is on the cards as both teams comprehensively won their respective first two matches. Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has won the toss and elected to bowl first. Shubman Gill is back in India's XI.
Pitch report, timing, and TV listing
The colossal Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host this duel on October 14 (2:00pm IST). The pitch here is usually balanced and assists both the batters and the bowlers. With the humidity level being around 47%, the dew is expected to set in the evening. Star Sports Network will telecast the match live while fans can live stream on the Disney+ Hotstar app.
A look at their head-to-head record
Pakistan have lost all their seven previous ODI WC games against India. However, in terms of overall ODI record, the Men in Green are still ahead, having won 73 games and losing 56. The arch-rivals met in the Asia Cup last month as India claimed a massive 228-run win. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli smoked centuries in that duel.
Here are the key performers
Rohit, who smoked a sensational century in his last outing, now has most ODI WC tons (7). Kohli returned with half-centuries in the first two games. Jasprit Bumrah has scalped 18 wickets in 10 white-ball matches since returning from his injury. Mohammad Rizwan has clocked 827 ODI runs this year at 75.18. Hasan Ali scalped six wickets in the first two games.
Gill replaces Kishan
Gill, who missed India's first two games after contracting dengue, has recovered and is back in the Indian XI. The batting sensation is making his WC debut as Ishan Kishan made way for him. There is no other change in the Indian XI. Meanwhile, Pakistan have retained their XI as Fakhar Zaman is likely to sit out for quite some more time.
Here are the XIs
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj. Pakistan (Playing XI): Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
