Asia Cup, India vs Pakistan: Pitch and weather report
India will kick-start their 2023 Asia Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan, who thrashed Nepal by 238 runs in their opener. The blockbuster contest is scheduled to take place at Sri Lanka's Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. Rain is likely to play a part in the duel. Hence, a complete 100-over game is highly unlikely. Here is the weather and pitch report.
A look at the track conditions
As mentioned, the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium will host this duel on September 2 (3:00pm IST). As the track here is usually on the slower side, spinners can get substantial assistance. Batters showing application would be awarded with runs. A couple of days back, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by five wickets here, having chased down 165 in 39 overs.
Rain might play a part
While it was raining heavily in Pallekele in the past few days, the weather has improved significantly on the match day. As per Accuweather, there are still 58% chances of rain at 3:00pm IST, the scheduled start time of the game. It would further increase to 65% as the day goes on. Hence, a shortened game is on the cards.
Here are the stadium stats
Chasing teams have won 21 of the 37 ODIs here (Average first innings score: 248). 363/7 by South Africa in 2018 is the highest team score here. SL own the highest-successful chase at this venue, 314 versus Afghanistan in 2022. While India have won all their three ODIs here, Pakistan have clinched just two of their five games in Pallekele.
Here are the key numbers
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has clobbered 183 runs across three ODI innings in Pallekele. Mohammad Rizwan scored 52 in his solitary ODI outing at this venue. Jasprit Bumrah has returned with nine wickets in just a couple of ODIs here. Virat Kohli has managed just 30 runs across three innings here in ODIs. Babar Azam managed 12 in his solitary ODI outing here.
A look at the Probable XI of both sides
India (Probable XI): Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah. Pakistan (Confirmed XI): Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Iftikhar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf.
