Asia Cup, India vs Nepal: Pitch report and stadium stats
Team India will meet Nepal in the Match 5 of the 2023 Asia Cup on Monday (September 4). While Nepal lost to Pakistan by 238 runs in the tournament opener, India's opener against the Men in Green got washed out due to rain. Notably, these two sides have never met in international cricket before. Here we look at the pitch report and weather conditions.
Pitch report, timing, and broadcast details
The Pallekele International Cricket Stadium will host this contest. The conditions here have been overcast in recent days and hence, pacers can get assistance with the new ball. The preceding game here, between India and Pakistan, got washed out due to rain. India lost all their 10 wickets to pacers in the contest. Notably, the conditions eased out for batting as the game progressed.
Will rain play a part?
The India-Pakistan clash got washed out due to rain and as per the weather updates, rain is likely to play a part in the upcoming duel as well. According to Accuweather, there are 50% chances of rain at 3:00pm IST, the scheduled toss time. As it has been raining here for the past few days, a wet outfield is also expected.
Here are the stadium stats
Chasing teams have won 21 of the 38 ODIs here, losing 15 (Average first innings score: 248). 363/7 by South Africa in 2018 is the highest team score here. Sri Lanka own the highest-successful chase at this venue, 314 versus Afghanistan in 2022. While India have won all their three completed ODIs here, Nepal are yet to play a match at this venue.
Here are the key numbers
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has clobbered 193 runs across four ODI innings in Pallekele. Virat Kohli has managed just 34 runs across four innings here in ODIs. Ishan Kishan (82) and Hardik Pandya (87) rescued India following a top-order collapse against Pakistan in the preceding encounter here. Pandya also owns a couple of ODI wickets at this venue.
A look at the Probable XI of both sides
India (Probable XI): Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (WK), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj. Nepal (Probable XI): Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (WK), Rohit Paudel (C), Aarif Sheikh, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi.
