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‘almost’ full-strength side after a long time. However, the absence of KL Rahul makes the batting line-up a bit unsettled as there are reservations over Ishan Kishan’s batting credentials in the middle-order. The onus will be on Virat Kohli once again to lead the Indian batting line-up against the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah. Rohit Sharma also need to get out of his shell in his battle against Shaheen with the new ball to set the platform for a big stage. Meanwhile, it will also be a test of Shubman Gill’s technique against a high-quality pace attack.
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In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah will be back to lead the pace attack of a full-strength Indian team. He made a return on the Ireland tour but the Asia Cup will be a big Test for him to prove his fitness ahead of the World Cup. Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami will be playing the supporting roles to Bumrah but they have all the credentials to outshine him too.
Meanwhile, Pakistan will field an unchanged playing XI against India in their much-anticipated Asia Cup match here on Saturday, the country’s cricket board (PCB) said.
Pakistan on Friday decided to name an unchanged team which thrashed Nepal by 238 runs in their opening game on Wednesday.
Pakistan started their campaign on a high with a massive 238-run win over Nepal as Babar Azam (151) and Iftikhar Ahmed (109) set the foundation for them.
Pakistan playing XI: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammed Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
India Probable Playing XI: Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami