India and Pakistan will reignite the biggest cricket rivalry when they clash in the ICC World Cup 2023 match on Saturday, October 14. Both teams won their opening two matches in the tournament to make the upcoming game more interesting and are likely to produce an entertaining encounter at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.
Both teams managed to pull off dominant displays in their first two games. India defeated the five-time champions Australia and Pakistan chased down the record 345 runs against Sri Lanka to warn off other contenders. However, Pakistan's spin attack is yet to make a mark in the ongoing tournament and the former cricketer Chetan Sharma agrees with it.
Speaking to India TV, Sharma highlighted a fresh and new challenge for Pakistan despite their promising start in the tournament. Sharma also pointed out Pakistan's weak spin attack and said that it will play as a huge advantage to Rohit Sharma's team.
"Facing India in Ahmedabad will be totally a different challenge for Pakistan despite winning the opening two games," Chetan Sharma said. "Their pace attack is definitely a threat but their struggles with spin bowling will be an advantage for India. India's spin attack is much better compared to Pakistan and that will be a big difference in middle overs. If India avoid losing wickets in the initial ten overs then they can put in a 350-plus total tomorrow."
Pakistan managed to bowl out Netherlands on 205 runs in their first game but conceded 344 runs against Sri Lanka. Naseem Shah-less pace attack was impressive in both games but the spin attack of Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Iftikhar Ahmed has managed to grab only five wickets combined from two games.
The 1987 World Cup hat-trick hero also revealed his India playing eleven for Pakistan game while speaking to India TV. Chetan tipped Shubman Gill to return to the starting eleven after missing the opening two games due to dengue fever. He added that the management will not take the risk of making unnecessary changes for such a big game.
Chetan Sharma's India playing XI vs Pakistan: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
