Rather, all the tickets for the match are sold within minutes. Along with this, the TV broadcaster also gets the biggest benefit from the advertisement. One such match will be played in Sri Lanka on Saturday.
This ODI match between India and Pakistan is being played after a gap of four years, the last time both the teams met in the 2019 World Cup in England in which the Indian team emerged victorious. When both the teams are facing each other after such a long gap, it is obvious that the excitement of the match has also increased by many levels.
But such a big match is also under the shadow of rain. There is a possibility of rain on Saturday, but the fans of both the teams are praying that even if it rains after the match.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam is in tremendous form, while Indian batting legend Virat Kohli is desperately trying to get back to his old form. At the same time, both the champions are also eager to make new records.
Babar Azam played a tremendous century against Nepal in the current Asia Cup match. As soon as he scores another century, he will surpass the record of 19 centuries in ODIs of his country's great opener Saeed Anwar.
On the other hand, the player whose record Virat Kohli is trying to break is none other than Sachin Tendulkar standing at the pinnacle of the ODI record. Kohli is just 102 runs away from the mark of 13000 runs in ODIs. Tendulkar completed the figure of 13000 runs in his 321st innings while Kohli has played only 265 innings so far.
Soon Kohli and Azam will break the records of cricket legends but they also have immense respect for each other. A few days ago, Kohli said in an interview to Star Sports that Babar Azam is probably the best batsman in all formats at present. On the other hand, Babar Azam recalled that when he met Kohli for the first time in 2019, he was at the top of his batting, and is still there today.
Azam said, “Then I asked him some questions about batting, which he answered with great detail and I learned a lot from him.” There is no doubt that both the batsmen look at each other with respect, but former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said something that Kohli's fans went berserk.
When Akram was asked by Fox Sports to compare the two players, he said, “Babar Azam is a great player of the current era but he is not Kohli yet. It will take them a little more time to reach there."
"Beyond saying this, I will have to listen a lot in my country, but maybe that's why I can't even become a selector. If I have to choose one of the two, I will take Kohli first."
In one of his recent interviews, Kohli said that 'Pakistan's batting is strong but their bowling makes them a match-winning team'. There is no doubt that Kohli considers Pakistan's fast bowling a big threat.
Pakistan has a brilliant trio of fast bowling in the form of Shaheen Afridi, Naeem Shah and Haris Rauf. At the same time, they also have two break-providing spinners – Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz.
Praising Shaheen Afridi, the great West Indies batsman Vivian Richards said that 'the bowler whom he advocates to be on top in the coming tournaments is none other than Shaheen Shah Afridi.'
Anyway, the match between India and Pakistan is said to be a competition between India's batting and Pakistan's bowling, hence this match has emerged as a big challenge for the strong Pakistani bowling and equally strong Indian batting.
After being out for a long time due to injury, Bumrah recently made a comeback in the T20 series in Ireland and bowled a good 4 overs in those matches. But the Indian team still has the challenge of the Asia Cup and then the ODI World Cup and the management wants to see how Bumrah can bowl long spells in ODIs.
Bumrah said after the Ireland series that he is ready to bowl 10 overs in the match and the first test of this will be in the match against Pakistan. Along with Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj will shoulder the responsibility of handling the Indian pace attack.
Well, the team has another headache in deciding the Indian bowling line-up, should the batting line-up be lengthened? Because after Jadeja at number 7, four bowlers will come, whose stories of batting in ODIs do not create enthusiasm in the team.
In such a situation, Shardul Thakur can be tried in place of Mohammed Shami at number eight. At the same time, Kuldeep Yadav will play the responsibility of spin along with Ravindra Jadeja. There is also a sixth bowling option in the team in the form of Hardik Pandya.
Also Read: Who has the stronger pace attack in IND vs PAK Match?
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