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West Indies...Ireland...Pakistan. Without any disrespect to the first two teams, Team India will face a massive leap in fixture difficulty when they lock horns with the Men in Green in their Asia Cup 2023 opener on Saturday, September 2.
India may not play Pakistan very often these days, but such is the magnitude and competitiveness of their clashes that they are penciled down in folklore even before they begin. This will be one such contest, with it being much more than just as a precursor to the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup.
The previous Asia Cup, conducted in the T20 format, is still fresh in memory. The Men in Blue drew first blood in the group stage before Pakistan bit back in the Super Four to progress to the final, where they lost to Sri Lanka.
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Why restrict our wandering minds to the Asia Cup? The 2022 T20 World Cup clash, which had that Virat Kohli epic, feels like it was yesterday. The 2019 World Cup meeting in which Rohit Sharma took over feels like it was day before yesterday. The 2017 Champions Trophy final...well, you get the hint.
What will happen at the Asia Cup on Saturday? Jasprit Bumrah's here. Shreyas Iyer's here. KL Rahul isn't. Pakistan are full-strength but perhaps don't have the middle-order to be labeled the outright favorites for the tournament. India are fighting to regain their bearings and field their first-choice XI, but there are questions galore.
With potential meetings between India and Pakistan lined up in the Super Four and the final of the 2023 Asia Cup apart from Saturday's clash, which team will take Round 1?
India vs Pakistan Match Prediction, Asia Cup 2023: Men in Blue look to disrupt arch-rivals' early momentum
It'll be quite some time before we talk about an India-Pakistan contest and not mention Shaheen Shah Afridi. The 23-year-old's battle against the Indian top order has defined the course of the last few contests between the arch-rivals, and with spin taking over the middle overs, the few overs of genuine pace threat Pakistan's battery can offer could become invaluable.
It isn't just Afridi, of course. Naseem Shah is a force of his own, and Haris Rauf combines aggression with all-phase prowess like very few can. And if the pace trio get bored of what are bound to be low and slow conditions in Pallekele, the Men in Blue will have to contend with Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, both of whom have tormented them lately.
At the other end of the spectrum, Jasprit Bumrah's return - and evident bowling fitness - have boosted India's chances. Pakistan are still heavily reliant on their skipper, Babar Azam, to do the bulk of the run-scoring. Fakhar Zaman's form has tapered off after a bright start to 2023, and even if he manages to find his bearings against one of his favorite opponents, Mohammed Siraj has been deadly in the powerplay.
Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja offer some middle-overs control as well, with the former bamboozling any batters he has encountered over the last year or so. With Hardik Pandya as the sixth bowling option, Rohit and company will have an eye on prising out all 10 Pakistan wickets cheaply.
India do have clear-cut concerns. Ishan Kishan is likely to bat out of position in the middle order, and Shreyas is bound to be rusty after returning from a long injury layoff. That would be a big problem nevertheless, but more so because spin has dictated the flow of the middle overs in Sri Lanka.
That said, though, Pakistan's batting lineup doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence either. Iftikhar Ahmed and Babar seem to be in good nick, but will they be able to find the boundaries against more potent bowlers this time around? A couple of early wickets for India could set the cat among the pigeons and push the Men in Green into a hole they could struggle to pull themselves out of.
You'd have to be either a devotee of one of the two sides or an ignorant cricket fan to confidently bet, with certainty, on the result any India vs Pakistan fixture, let alone one that has so many sub-plots and variables. Anything can happen in a game of cricket as tightly wound as this one.
India's improved bowling attack and clearly better top order could prove to be the difference on the day.
Prediction: India to win Match 3 of Asia Cup 2023.
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