New Delhi: The Indian cricket team will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their second Group B match of Champions Trophy on Sunday. Keeping the opponent Pakistan’s composition in mind, one change can be expected to be made as Rohit Sharma’s men take on Mohammad Rizwan’s side. Here’s what can be expected from Indian batting and bowling strategy:
Openers: The pairing of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill is certain. No changes expected at the top of the batting order. The duo had put in 69 runs for the first wicket against Bangladesh. Rohit had given the team a flying start.
Middle-Order: Virat Kohli is likely to retain the number 3 spot in the batting order. According to reports, he put 3 hours of extra work in the nets ahead of the Pakistan clash. He reportedly focused on tuning his batting against spinners. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are likely to accompany him at No. 4 and No. 5 spot respectively.
All-Rounders: The number of all-rounders in the Indian team has increased. For instance, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Hardik Pandya gave the team an incredible balance. Harshit Rana can also prove to be handy with the bat.
Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja were India’s spinners against Bangladesh. However, keeping Pakistan’s team composition experts opine that Varun Chakravarthy could be brought in as a replacement for Kuldeep. This is the only change India are likely to make.
Pacers: Considering the fact how Harshit Rana and Mohammed Shami fared for India against Bangladesh, none of them is expected to be benched for Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI against Pakistan.
India’s likely playing XI vs Pakistan: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav/Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana.
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