Team: India vs Pakistan
Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Time: October 14, 2023 at 2pm
With the most-awaited match of ICC ODI World Cup 2023 set to kick off on Saturday at 2pm, fans on either side of the Radcliff Line are hoping that their home country will thrash their arch-rivals. While India return with the confidence of defeating five-time world champions Australia and Afghanistan, Pakistan too are equally enthusiastic after thumping victories over Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
About Narendra Modi Stadium
Narendra Modi Stadium, the world's largest cricket stadium, first made headlines for its reception of former US President Donald Trump. The stadium, formerly known as Motera Cricket Stadium, hosted the opening match between 2019 world champions England and runner-up New Zealand. Besides Saturday's adrenaline-pumping match, the 1.32 lakh seater stadium will also host the World Cup final.
Previous World Cup clashes
India have beaten Pakistan seven times in the ODI World Cups over the years, with no losses against the arch-rivals in any edition of the tournament. While Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali is confident of breaking this jinx, we have to wait and watch how it will play out in the pitch.
India first locked horns with Pakistan in Sydney during the 1992 tournament, where both teams registered their lowest scores against each other in a World Cup. However, India's 43-run win against Pakistan propelled by Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten 54 did not stop the latter from taking home the trophy.
In the following World Cup in 1996, India crushed Pakistan by 39 runs in Bengaluru with Navjot Singh Sidhu scoring 93. In the 1999 World Cup, when India beat Pakistan for 47 runs in Manchester, back home Indians were mourning their war heroes at Kargil War. In the match, Venkatesh Prasad raked in five wickets by yielding just 27 runs.
In 2003, India celebrated Holi with another massive victory against Pakistan. Tendulkar scored a game-changing 98, helping India beat Pakistan by six wickets.
In 2011, India beat Pakistan by 29 runs in the second semifinal in Mohali before the Men in Blue kissed the trophy for a second time. Tendulkar scored an impressive 85 in his final World Cup match against Pakistan.
In 2015, the Men in Blue scored a massive 300 in Adelaide propelled by Virat Kohli's century. India thrashed their rivals by 76 runs in the match.
India's most recent World Cup clash with Pakistan was in 2019 in Manchester where Rohit Sharma scored a brilliant 140 and Virat Kohli bagged 77. India won by 89 runs in the game via DLS method after rain hit the pitch.
India vs Pakistan toss in World Cups
India won the toss and opted to bat first in 1992, 1996 and 1999. In 2003, Pakistan batted first after toss win. In 2011 and 2015, India won the toss and chose to bat first. In 2019, Pakistan got the toss and elected to field.
Playing XI
There is 99 per cent chance that Shubman Gill will replace Ishan Kishan after recovering from dengue. Gill was seen practising with Kishan on Friday. There are also reports that suggest that Ravichandran Ashwin will replace Shardul Thakur. Whether Mohammed Shami will replace Mohammed Siraj is uncertain.
India (probable): Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj
On the Pakistani side, there is chance that Fakhar Zaman could replace Imam-ul-Haq.
Pakistan (probable): Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman/Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf
