A tournament featuring 10 teams, 45 matches before the knockouts, it might be foolish to say that ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 hinges on just one game, but it is true. How the tournament has been promoted, built up and seeing a proper ceremony in place featuring the who's who of the Hindi music industry and with several celebrities set to come, India vs Pakistan at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday, October 14 is going to be one such event.
Pakistan team has come to Indian shores after seven years and this will be the first ODI match between the two nations on Indian soil after more than a decade. Diplomatic relations, political differences and several other reasons have resulted in a complete ban on bilaterals. India refused to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup but the Men in Green had no option but to travel to India for the World Cup and thankfully at 2 PM when the first ball is bowled, cricket will take over and politics will take a back seat.
India have started well with two strong wins against Australia and Afghanistan. On the other hand, Pakistan were challenged by both the Netherlands and Sri Lanka in their first two games but coming out on top in both games will be heartening for them before the big one. Can they do it? On paper, India are probably the strongest team in the competition, even more than New Zealand, England, South Africa or Australia. But in India-Pakistan matches, the one who holds nerves is highly likely to get over the line.
When and where to watch India vs Pakistan match live for free on TV and OTT in India?
The India-Pakistan clash in World Cup 2023 is going to be a grand event with a couple of song and dance ceremonies put in place. The ceremony will kick off at 12:30 PM IST followed by the toss at 1:30 PM. The live action will kick off at 2 PM IST. The match will be live broadcasted on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD and other channels of the Star Sports network in respective languages including Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. The match can be watched for free on DD Sports free-to-air channel on TV.
The live streaming of the match will be available on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website. Mobile users can watch the game for free on their phones on Hotstar.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Agha Salman, Fakhar Zaman, Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr
