Asia Cup 2023 will kick-start from August 30 with co-hosts Pakistan squaring off Nepal in the opening match in Multan.
Asia Cup 2023 will kick-start from August 30 with co-hosts Pakistan squaring off Nepal in the opening match in Multan. The mouth-watering clash between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan will be played on September 2 in Kandy. Both teams will aim to put their best foot forward in order to prepare for the ODI World Cup, which will be held in October in India. As the continental tournament is just around the corner, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has come up with some key pointers about Team and the Babar Azam-led side.
Salman hailed Australia for being a competitive side, that can win matches even in difficult circumstances and stated that both India and Pakistan should experiment with their line-up.
“There’s no chance to make experiments now. Neither of these sides are Australia of the 2000s who can do anything under the sun and still win. They would field new players and win the match, they would play old winners and still win. Both sides aren’t like that team, and they know it,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.
“Their (India and Pakistan) competition is against teams who can be a threat on their days. Australia were miles ahead of any side. Even if they had lost five batters early, they could’ve still scored 275-300 runs in an innings. It was a dream unit. India and Pakistan aren’t dream units,” he added.
The former skipper went on to say that under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, Team India’s batting line-up was great but now the entire team only depends on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“India’s batting was great under Dhoni. Right now, they have to put up a show; if Rohit or Kohli doesn’t score big runs, it becomes hard for them against a good bowling lineup. And Pakistan, on their day, can be a very tough bowling side,” said Salman.
Earlier on Wednesday, it was revealed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has organised a preparatory camp in Bengaluru for players ahead of the start of the Asia Cup.
The next three months remain crucial for India’s success in marquee events. After the conclusion of the Asia Cup, the entire focus would go to the preparations for the ODI World Cup.
India’s Asia Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
