Highlights
India-Pakistan match will be played on Saturday in Asia Cup
Who will the Pallekele pitch help, the spinner or the fast bowler?
New Delhi. India and Pakistan teams will face each other for the first time after T20 World 2022. The Asia Cup clash between the two teams will take place on Saturday, September 2 at the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy. Fans of both the countries are looking forward to this high voltage match but the weather in Kandy and the pitch of Pallakal Stadium may dampen the expectations of both the fans. Because there is a chance of rain in Kandy on the day of the India-Pakistan match. Matches can also be washed. Also, Pallekal’s pitch is also intimidating.
If you don’t believe, check out the statistics of the last Asia Cup match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Pallekele. In this match, 10 batsmen of both teams could not cross double figures. No team played full 50 overs in this match. Bangladesh team was defeated in 43 overs and Sri Lanka in 39 overs.
Batting first with great difficulty, Bangladesh scored 164 runs and Sri Lanka also struggled to achieve this target and the hosts managed to achieve this target after half the team returned to the pavilion. This suggests that it will not be easy for both the India-Pakistan teams to play in Pallekale and the question will also arise whether the same will be the case in the India-Pakistan match.
Wicket slow, will spinners be effective?
India and Pakistan are scheduled to clash on September 2 at this iconic venue in Kandy. However, it is not clear whether the two teams will clash on the same wicket on which Bangladesh-Sri Lanka clashed on August 31. If this happens, India-Pakistan match is also likely to be low scoring. The reason for this is the slow pace of the wicket. Prior to the Asia Cup, the Lankan Premier League matches were played in Pallakkale. Due to this the pitch has become slower and double bouncy.
Pathirana took 4 wickets
After the first match of the Asia Cup, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh players also admitted that the pitch had a double bounce and the ball was coming back. It means that the batsmen are sure to be tested and not only the spinners but also the fast bowlers will wreak havoc. This was also seen in the match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lankan fast bowler Matisha Pathirana destroyed the Bangladesh batting on her Asia Cup debut. He took 4 wickets.
At the same time, spin bowlers from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also bowled well in the first match. The Bangladeshi spinners took three of Sri Lanka’s five wickets and conceded a total of 90 runs in 25 overs. At the same time, the Sri Lankan spin bowlers bowled a total of 25 overs and hunted down 4 Bangladesh batsmen. Both India and Pakistan have good spinners. In the first match, Shadab Khan took 4 wickets against Nepal. In such a situation, India will have to stay away from this leg spinner. Not only that, considering the nature of the pitch, deciding the playing 11 for both the teams will not be easy.
Better run chase or batting first in Pallekele?
A total of 34 ODI matches have been played on this ground so far. In which the chasing team has won 16 matches. While the team batting first in 17th has won. One match was inconclusive.
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Tags: Asia Cup, Babar Azam, India Vs Pakistan, Rohit Sharma, Shadab Khan
First published: September 01, 2023, 08:41 IST