The scenes at the Pallekele Cricket Ground were a treat to watch as India is taking on arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening match of the Asia Cup 2023. Meanwhile, Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin posted a video before the start of the match where the Indian fans in large numbers were singing the Indian national anthem. Ashwin while sharing the post got a little emotional as he stated it is a ‘surreal’ feeling to sing the national anthem before an IND vs PAK clash.
India won the toss and opted to bat first in Pallekele
As mentioned above, India won the toss and opted to have a bat first against the Men in Green. Much to the surprise of everyone, express pacer Mohammad Shami was not part of the playing XI. Instead of him, the Men in Blue have opted to go with all-rounder Shardul Thakur.
“We are going to bat first. Honestly, I mean look, there is a bit of weather around but cannot think too much about it. Come and play good cricket, raise the game, raise the situation. Luckily, we had some time off after the West Indies series. We had time and got all the players for the Bangalore camp. Everyone had their skills tested and performed the drills. Let’s see what we can achieve in this tournament. Guys are up for it,” Rohit said at the toss.
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At the end of the day, we need to think what we can do and achieve as a team, that’s important. Yeah, I mean look, the last ODI series we played in West Indies, Shreyas is back, Bumrah is back. We have three seamers- Shardul, Siraj, and Bumrah, and Hardik is obviously there. Kuldeep and Jadeja are the two spinners,” Rohit added.
Meanwhile, the play has been halted due to rain with skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to resume after the delay. While Rohit is playing on 11 runs, Gill is yet to open his mark after facing 8 deliveries.
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