IND vs PAK: There are not many days left to go for the marquee event Asia Cup 2022. The event that has an air of excitement around it will see Asian giants such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Afghanistan and others have a go at each other. The tournament which was initially decided to be played in Sri Lanka has now been shifted to the United Arab Emirates. The country of Sri Lanka has been facing one of the worst economic crises and with protests being carried out in all parts of the globe, it wouldn't have been fair and safe to host the marquee tournament.
The Asia teams are looking at this event as a part of preparations for the T20I World Cup that is scheduled to be played in Australia later this year. The first match of the tournament will be played on August 27, 2022, and will see Afghanistan having a crack at Sri Lanka. But for now, the entire focus is on the Indo-Pak clash, the arch-rivals who generate a buzz in the air as the entire world waits in anticipation. India last faced Pakistan in the T20I World Cup in the year 2021. Coincidentally, it is the same venue where Pakistan defeated India by a margin of 10 wickets.
As far as international cricket is concerned, India has always had the upper hand against Pakistan and has dominated them on most occasions. The scars of the previous defeat are still fresh in the mind of the Indian team and the players will somehow look to play out of their skin and return the favor to the Babar Azam-led side. This time around, Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian team and will want to defend the title. For some time now, there has been a lot of talk around Virat Kohli who has been struggling to get back to his dominant form. The Royal Challengers Bangalore veteran seems completely out of touch as oppositions have been claiming his wicket for fun. It is extremely important for India that their former skipper comes back to form and starts scoring for the men in blue.
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Speaking about Kohli and his form, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has said that the Indian media and the fans have been uselessly going after the 33-year-old Indian batsman. Akram further added that Kohli still has a lot of cricket left in him and his best is yet to come. The former Pakistan pacer while backing Virat Kohli's capability also said that he is averaging 50-plus in all three formats and is as fit as he can be and he has no qualms in his head that Virat will make a comeback and start scoring runs for India.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan. Standby: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
Pakistan Squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain.
