Asia Cup 2023: Shreyas Iyer returns to Playing XI; Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur get nod vs Pakistan
Asia Cup 2023: Shreyas Iyer returns to Playing XI; Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur get nod vs Pakistan
Shreyas Iyer has made his return to the Indian team’s Playing XI against Pakistan in the Asia Cup group stage as the two-arch rivals lock horns at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele. Iyer, last seen in international action in March against Australia was subject to fitness, but has made the Playing XI. As expected, Ishan Kishan also made the Playing XI against Pakistan while Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav were also included while there was no place for Suryakumar Yadav.
Iyer In, Surya Out
While it was always a tussle for a place in the middle order, Iyer fully fit and recovered and got the faith of captain Rohit Sharma in the Playing XI. He missed the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) season for Kolkata Knight Riders while also missing the West Indies and Ireland tour. On the flip side, Suryakumar had to drop to the bench with Kishan making the Playing XI. Suryakumar had a tough outing in the ODIs against Australia in March which could have seen him miss out on a place in the Playing XI.
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India win toss
India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first in the challenging conditions of Pallekele. The Asia Cup contest between the arch-rivals is the 14th meeting between the sides with India leading the head-to-head 7-5. India won the group stage clash between the sides in the 2022 Asia Cup that was played in the T20I format while they lost in the Super Four stage.
Pakistan on the flip side, made no changes to the winning combination from the Nepal game as they went unchanged. Babar Azam’s side will guarantee passage into the Super Four with a win while India will look to make a positive start to their Asia Cup campaign. Pakistan earlier beat Nepal by 238 runs to start their Asia Cup campaign.
India’s Playing XI vs Pakistan
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
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