• Source:JND
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India and Pakistan will lock horns in the Group A fixture of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Saturday.

Both teams will face off in an ODI game for the first time since they met in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England. In that match at Manchester, the Men in Blue put up a brilliant performance in all departments to pick up a one-sided victory.

There is heavy excitement for the much-anticipated clash as always, which looks under a bit of threat due to expected rain at the venue.

The arch-rivals provided an all-time classic contest when they locked horns in the T20 World Cup last year in Australia with India ending up with the win on the back of a memorable knock from Virat Kohli.

 

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The weather report ahead of the high-voltage clash has raised concerns, leaving fans and players anxiously keeping an eye on the skies.

 

Weather Report

Cricket fans all over the world will be concerned over the possible rain interruptions at the Pallekele stadium.

According to Accuweather.com, cloudy weather has been predicted for Saturday in Kandy with a high possibility of multiple showers. The match will kick off in the afternoon at 3:00 PM local time, and as per the weather website, the probability of rain is around 60 percent with 98 percent of cloud cover.

The rain is expected to be away during the initial hours of the contest but could return moments after the sunset.

Accuweather predicts rain at around 7 PM in the evening which might get heavier later in the night – from 9 PM to 11 PM – with 100 per cent cloud cover and high humidity.


Pitch Report

A fresh wicket will be used for the high-profile contest and an early movement for the bowlers can be expected considering the weather conditions in the build-up to the match.

The previous encounter at the venue between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Thursday turned out to be a low-scoring affair and even though the wicket will be different for the clash on Saturday, there will be an even contest between the bat and ball.


Head-to-head: India and Pakistan have clashed in 132 ODI matches with the latter having an upper hand with 73 victories while the Men in Blue have emerged victorious in 55 matches.

Both teams have met 13 times in the ODI matches of Asia Cups where India have won seven matches and Pakistan have five wins.

 

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Squads:

Pakistan Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Abdullah Shafique, Saud Shakeel, Usama Mir

India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Suryakumar Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Tilak Varma