IND vs PAK: It's exactly a week to go for the much-anticipated India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 clash. The Men in Blue are set to begin their Asia Cup campaign with that game. The continental tournament is India's one final dress rehearsal ahead of the ICC Men's World Cup 2023 which will commence on October 5. While the team has more or less decided on the players they will be trusting for the World Cup, there remains a few unanswered question related to the team's batting order.
However, even that seems to have been settled. As per a report carried by Cricbuzz, during the team's match simulation in the team's camp in Alur at the outskirts of Bengaluru, the team decided to send the batters in pairs which seems to be a hint of the batting order which the team might look at especially for the first game against Pakistan for which KL Rahul remains a doubtful starter as he picked up a niggle.
The same report has confirmed that it was Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill who faced the bowlers as a pair first implying the two are likely to open the batting in the first match against Pakistan. Interestingly, it was Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer who followed Rohit and Gill which seems to suggest that they could come in at number 3 or number 4. Rahul then could come in at number 5, also giving India a wicketkeeping option.
In case though, Rahul fails to recover in time or India decide to go ahead with Ishan Kishan also in the XI, the left-handed will come in the top 3, forcing Kohli to bat 4 and leaving number 5 a toss up between Rahul, Shreyas Iyer or even Suryakumar Yadav. The rest of the batting order seems sorted with all-rounders Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and the bowlers to follow.
Meanwhile, if India and Pakistan qualify for the Super Fours of Asia Cup they will meet on September 10 and if they set up an IND Vs PAK final, the summit clash is scheduled on September 17.