The ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup has reached its final destination with India A and Pakistan Shaheens or Pakistan A meeting in the summit clash of the eight-team tournament on Sunday, July 23 in Colombo. It has been a rather smooth sail for the Men in Blue as they are yet to lose a game in the tournament so far while Pakistan's only loss came against their arch-rivals four days ago. The tournament and how it has gone resembles with the 2017 Champions Trophy quite a lot, however, the Indian players will hope that the result is exactly the opposite.
The batters and bowlers have complimented each other for India as in matches where the bowlers have given runs, the batters have stood up while in the last game when the batters failed to get their team to a good score, the bowlers rose to the occasion. The Men in Blue will hope that skipper Yash Dhull and opener Sai Sudharsan, two of the top three run scorers in the tournament can make a mark once again, in the game that matters the most.
Pakistan on the other hand, are coming off handing hosts Sri Lanka a 60-run pasting after Omair Yousuf's magnificent ton. The batters failed for Pakistan in their last meeting with India and the Mohammad Haris-led side will be keen to avenge the last defeat in the finale.
Here's all you need to know about the India A vs Pakistan A Emerging Teams Asia Cup final:
Pitch report
The pitch at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium has favoured the spinners a bit. Pakistan are coming off playing a much better surface at P Sara Oval and they might have to make slight adjustments again. The spinners will dominate once again, however, if a batter gets his eyes in, he can score big as shown by the likes of Yash Dhull and Sai Sudharsan in the past. The average score will be around 240-250. If a team batting first gets to 250 or above, they will be favourites to win the contest.
Weather forecast
There's a small shower predicted in the daytime when the match begins. However, the rain is set to get even more intense in the evening with a probability of precipitation being 100 per cent, as per Accuweather and hence the match might get shortened. If there is rain around, the team winning the toss might opt to bowl first. The weather is set to remain humid with the temperatures set to hover around a high of 31 and a low of 26 degrees.
Probable Playing XIs
India A: Sai Sudharsan, Abhishek Sharma, Nikin Jose, Yash Dhull(c), Nishant Sindhu, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel(w), Harshit Rana, Manav Suthar, RS Hangargekar, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya
Pakistan A: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Omair Yousuf, Tayyab Tahir, Qasim Akram, Mohammad Haris(w/c), Mubasir Khan, Amad Butt, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Sufiyan Muqeem, Arshad Iqbal
