The Asia Cup 2023 is all set to kickstart today with Pakistan taking on Nepal in the first fixture of the tournament. Team India will open their account against arch-rivals on September 2 in Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. (More Cricket News)
The Indian team has picked a 17-member squad for the continental tournament with the likes of Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul making their comebacks post injury. However, wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul won't be available for the first two matches as he is still unfit.
On the bowling front, Indian team and fans will be happy to see the return of Jasprit Bumrah alongside Mohammed Shami. Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna, who are set to make their comeback after injuries, were simply unplayable during the Ireland tour and will be a key weapon in India's armoury during the Asia Cup 2023.
Despite a formidable bowling and batting unit, former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt feels Babar Azam and Co. will go into the Ind vs Pak match as slight favourites on Sept 2.
"If we look at India's fast bowling, fitness is a concern. Players have been unfit for a long time, we don't know if they are fragile, will they go full throttle. Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, they have youngsters, who have played plenty of cricket but they don't have that much of experience.
“India have won matches only when Rohit Sharma has played well or Virat Kohli has done something spectacular. When the onus is on others they have mostly struggled.”
“Pakistan have Babar, Rizwan, Fakhar, Shadab, Shaheen, Haris Rauf. And in my opinion Pakistan have a much larger core group. India too have match-winners like Jadeja, Shami, Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. But their batting is brittle, if Pakistan pick the two big wickets then the others will have a lot to prove. They have not helped India win matches against Pakistan or in their own,” the ex-Pakistan cricketer said in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
Comparing India's and Pakistan seam attacks, Butt also stated that the latter have an 'added advantage'.
“We have bowlers who can bowl at 90mph, only one or two can touch 90mph, others don't have that much pace. This is an added advantage. We have both type of spinners, fast bowling all-rounder, and he too touches 140kph,” he said.
The former Pakistan southpaw reckons that India will be under pressure as they will have to bear the burden of expectations as well.
“There are plenty of expectations from India, hence the pressure is more. And since India have not played against Pakistan for a long time for whatever reasons, their players no matter how much IPL they've played, they don't have the experience of playing in such high-voltage clash. Chahe subah, dopahar, sham IPL khel le (no matter how much you play in the IPL) it does not bring the same pressure, which is during India-Pakistan series,” he said.
