Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra expects the team that set a target in the Asia Cup 2023 clash between India and Pakistan will win the contest as well. However, the two arch-rivals will take on each other in a Group A game in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2. It will be the first ODI clash between them since the 2019 World Cup game which India won by 89 runs via the DLS method after being asked to bat first.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “I am not going to say whether India or Pakistan will win. The heart says India will win and the mind says Pakistan will trouble you. I am saying whichever team bats first will win. Unless it’s a really truncated game, I don’t think a chase will happen. Whoever wins the toss will want to bat first. Although you want to bat second in rain-affected games, but it is India-Pakistan. It may or may not rain, there is no guarantee for that. If you get trapped in that process, that you will be able to understand the DLS method, you might end up paying for it.”
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However, Aakash Chopra also stated that even if it is a rain-truncated game, chasing a reduced target in fewer overs will be difficult if the team loses early wickets when the ball moves under lights as well. He again shared that teams wouldn’t want to chase on a pitch that assists the bowlers, where the ball is not coming nicely onto the bat as well.
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“Our first 10 overs and the first 10 overs of the opposing team, three or more wickets will fall for sure. Who will lose more wickets – I don’t know, but three will definitely fall. It could be three openers as well or the one-down batter,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “I feel the spinners will also pick up more than three wickets. It could be Shadab Khan or Kuldeep Yadav, there is plenty of spin. As both teams have good fast bowling as well, wickets will fall there too but I feel spinners will also pick up wickets.”
